The manufacturer of ColaCao invests in the renovation of its corporate headquarters in El Guinardó

They say that for many years the streets of the Guinardó neighborhood smelled of chocolate. It was an aroma of cocoa powder from the ColaCao factory, built in 1957 on a plot on Lepanto Street. The plant moved in 1981 to Parets del Vallès, where it is still located today, but the historic factory was not abandoned; instead, it continued to house the corporate offices of the former Nutrexpa and the current Idilia Foods, the company that owns ColaCao, Nocilla, Okey, Paladín, and Mesura.

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This office building located in the old industrial enclave has just begun a new stage 63 years later, as Idilia Foods has subjected the property to a comprehensive renovation to adapt it to the company's new needs and also free up square meters to be occupied by third-party companies. The renovated corporate offices on Lepanto Street preserve the original architectural elements that bear witness to its industrial past, such as the high Catalan vaulted ceilings, the pillars of the old factory, the mezzanines, and the exposed beams.

Idilia Foods occupies an area of 4,725 square meters distributed among four of the seven floors of the building. The other three add up to 5,615 square meters more and have been put on the rental market, so they can be occupied by companies requiring between 500 and 2,000 square meters. "This building is part of Idilia's history and will also be part of its future," says the CEO of the Catalan family business, Xavi Pons.

With the renovation of its headquarters, the ColaCao manufacturing group wants to adapt to new ways of working and also to the new normal derived from the pandemic. "The offices convey the essence of the company and values such as closeness and teamwork," says Pons. In this sense, the 140 employees of Idilia's central services have been working this month in open spaces designed to foster communication, synergies between teams and departments, and equipped with the necessary digital and connectivity tools to be paperless offices that easily integrate in-person and remote work.

One of the four floors of Idilia Foods' new headquarters has a 500-square-meter outdoor terrace with panoramic views over the city of Barcelona. It will be used for meetings in a different format or to encourage social interaction among employees. In addition to applying the paperless policy, the renovated offices have been certified with the Breeam sustainability seal, and all the electricity they consume is green. The company has also launched a sustainable mobility plan for employees, promoting bicycle commutes and offering parking for bicycles and electric scooters.

Idilia Foods is one of the two companies resulting from the spin-off of the former Nutrexpa. It is a company owned by the Ferrero Jordi brothers, whose star brand is Cola Cao, present in the market for more than 75 years. The group had a turnover of 173 million euros in 2019, a figure that also includes the commercialization of brands such as Nocilla, Paladín, and Okey. Including employees at the Parets del Vallès plant, the company employs more than 300 people. This industrial complex was also renovated in 2018, when a new plant for Nocilla was built, which until then was located in Montmeló.

The other company that emerged from Nutrexpa is Adam Foods, now in the hands of the Ventura family and owner of well-known brands such as Artiach, La Piara, Cuétara, and Aneto. Until the separation into two groups in 2014, Nutrexpa occupied the entire building on Lepanto Street, which years ago modernized its exterior image by constructing an imposing facade characterized by its large mirror windows. One of the great curiosities of this property, located at number 414 on Lepanto Street, is that it has never displayed an exterior sign with the company's corporate image, a good indicator of the extremely discreet nature of the owning family.