Grupo Kalise Menorquina is a Spanish ice cream and dessert company, formed in 1999 as a result of the merger between La Menorquina and Interglas, who publicly traded as Kalise. After merging, the two brands originally traded as one unit, Kalise-Menorquina, before becoming separated in 2011, with La Menorquina being the company's subsidiary for restaurant trade, and Kalise being the company's subsidiary for general public sale. The company is situated on Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands.
History
La Menorquina
Following the second world war, businessman Fernando Pons Sintes founded La Estrella in 1950 on the island of Menorca, with the vision of taking ice cream and cake to the island's restaurants. Five years later in 1955, the company would be renamed from La Estrella, to La Menorquina. By the mid-1950s, the company reached collaboration agreements with companies in Barcelona. In 1956, Sintes acquired the Mahon-based chocolate company La Tropical de Mahón, founded in 1883 and in which Sintes had worked as a baking apprentice. In 1960, ice cream still remained a luxurious product, though the development of tourism and restaurants meant greater access to refrigerators, helping Sintes and La Menorquina gain presence on the islands. By the mid-1960s, increased competition attempting to capitalise on the tourism boost forced La Menorquina to evolve. The company purchased Helados Marisa, which would later merge with USmultinational companyBeatrice Foods, who bought a 95% stake of the company in 1965. Beatrice Foods would later go on to also buy stakes in a company called Marisa, who owned refrigeration factories in Barcelona and Mallorca. This meant that La Menorquina could begin to sell its products in Mallorca and at a greater scale. La Menorquina marketed three brands in Mallorca, these were La Menorquina, Matisa and Calatayud. In 1983, Marisa merged with La Menorquina, leaving the Barcelona, Menorca and Mallorca factories exclusively to La Menorquina, allowing for expansion of operations.
Kalise
During the early 1960s in the city ofLas Palmas in the Gran Canaria, businessman Delfín Suárez saw tourism opportunities, and made the family company Interglas manufacture and market their ice cream, trading as Kalise.
Merging
In 1990, Sintes retired, and now-Interglas owner Suárez purchased all shares of La Menorquina. Despite this, La Menorquina and Kalise remained separate companies. La Menorquina began its internationalisation by exporting its products to 27 countries. Later on 1999, Beatrice Foods left the company, which allowed Interglas to fully merge with La Menorquina, resulting in the Kalise Menorquina Group. In 2005, Grupo Kalise Menorquina acquired 95% of SIALSA, which produced and sold yogurt-brand Sandra locally. In April 2017, Grupo Kalise Menorquina in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands was acquired by Farga Group.
