A Valencian orange that is on the tree today tomorrow may be eating somewhere in Spain. With all its flavor and without the intervention of chemical processes, through Lola oranges. The fruit company that revolutionized the Spanish market by becoming the first to only sells through the network. We present you already these oranges on the Internet.
Start oranges online with a risky payment system
"From the tree to your table in 24 hours" is the motto of Lola oranges, that currently sells 400.000 kilos of fruits per year. Grow up to six varieties of oranges, plus tangerines, lemons and grapefruits. A fruit is being consumed more and more. To arrive at that figure, the family farm of Fernando Aparici and Dolores Colomar (who gives name to the brand) in 1998 opted for direct distribution to individuals via online.
But, at the time, no one wanted to pay upfront, so he implemented a risky slogan, which still maintains today. "Buy them, try them and if you like them, you pay for them." Thus was born oranges online.
"What is this worth?" Appearance taking a lemon of one of the trees he has in the La Albufera Park. It is a protected area of Cullera 20 kilometers from the sea. “If the lemon is freshly cut, the pedicle (back part) is green. If it takes a long time, it is black ”, he explains to be able to distinguish a freshly picked lemon, also recognizable by its intense smell.
Your product is natural, without additives and delivery Express
"The big merchants - he adds - do not allow the fruit to ripen so much on the tree." In Lola oranges they don't add no chemical additive for their coloring, maturation or conservation, nor do they use cold chambers. "There are merchants who put a wax on them so that they last five months," he says.
Appearance It started with 25 hectares (each equivalent to 831 square meters) and today it already has 350. It tells us, surrounded by orange trees, which are protected from the saline wind by a textile nets.
Success came five years after starting the sale of oranges online, when among his clients he began to have personalities. The king of gastronomy Ferrán Adriá, Martín Berasategui or Santi Santamaría. Then, the mouth-ear was joined.
"The great restaurateurs - he says - are in love" with the citrus caviar, that he also produces. It is "very difficult to obtain and to make, since the tree only makes one kilo."
Other exotic fruits that also cultivate here are the kumquats, A species of orange date of Asian origin that is eaten with skin. Also they limequats, same but of lemon. The chinese mandarin, small and eaten with the skin on, it is used for cocktails. Then there is the buddha hand.
In summer, when there are no citrus fruits, these Valencian lands produce watermelons, melons and tomatoes. "Here you work all year round," he says. Appearance, who, despite success, has never stopped having Feet on the ground.
