Luxurious dining: Natural sea salt with 24k edible gold flakes. Manuel J.Úbeda and his family-run Business
Manuel Jesús Úbeda is the Chief Executive Officer of GoldSal, a 3rd generation Spanish family company with over 100 years of expertise within the salt mines sector. The first member of the family Don Juan Úbeda was the pioneer back in 1905, passing then his knowledge onto his children. The Flower of Salt is a thin layer of salt that forms on the surface of the brine in the process of crystallisation of the salt flats and the results is a 100% natural and handcrafted salt free of any industrial process such as washing or grinding.
Starting from this product, Manuel wanted to redefine the culinary boundaries by introducing the wow factor on the FMCG industry: The Fleur de Sel is wisely mixed with 24k gold flakes and has been declared as the Best Innovative Product at the 2015 edition of SEFEX– International Sea Products Fair in Dubai. If you had an idea about classy meals, this salt will reshape it!
Who are you today?
I am the President and CEO of the only company in the world that sells Fleur de Sel with 24K Gold” the most luxurious Salt in the world. It was not an easy task since everything implied a lot of effort, work and dedication. Everything goes back to 1905 when my family started this business, but my first steps were 22 years ago in a small town in the South of Spain (Cádiz) and with the help of my father and my devotion for this work, we reinvented ourselves reaching the creation of a salt with these characteristics.
How did you get here?
When you reinvent yourself and your company along with it, you clearly have to face all the problems that are in your way, and one of them is the internalization of the brand and its marketing. We have presented the GoldSal products at the International Sea Products Fair in Dubai (SEAFEX) boosted by our greatest motivation to do so, bearing fruit and so winning the award for the Best Innovative Product edition in the United Arab Emirates.
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve learned from?
I think the biggest mistake I made was not allocating a bigger marketing budget from the very beginning, to be able to publicize what we do in GOLDSAL hence promote B2B and B2C relationships. This would have provided an incredible positioning. However, we have been able to solve this error and learned how to maintain the necessary marketing activity for our Company.
What does ‘success’ mean for you?
- a) Learn to overcome and put effort.
If you go ahead in spite of the difficulties, the daily effort turns the dream into reality. The satisfaction one feels in achieving a set goal moves us to do great things.
Try and overcome all the problems day by day.
Picture the right way or the means to achieve the desired goal.
- b) Satisfaction for work well done.
Ending the day with the feeling of having given the best of ourselves under all aspects.
Feeling proud of everything we do, feeling good about ourselves and waking up every day with strength and enthusiasm.
What does ‘leadership’ mean for you?
The set of managerial skills that a person has in order to influence the way of being or acting of people around him/her, making these people work as a team with enthusiasm towards a common bunch of goals and objectives.
What’s the very best advice you would give to young ambitious people?
Stay ambitious and get up every day with the willing to learn, fight and be a person open to new ideas. In this way you’ll be able to fulfill your mission.
How do you think be influenced can be helpful to other people?
Learning from the experiences of others is very nice, since sharing your good and bad moments can make people open their eyes and avoid falling into the same mistakes you have made.