New York university students study Super Selectos business model

A group of students from New York University (NYU) visited the country to learn about the business model they are developing the Super Select chain and the company Acceso with Salvadoran producers.

They listened with special attention on Monday to the explanation that businessman Carlos Calleja, vice president of Grupo Calleja, gave them about how the productive chain works through supermarkets and the social impact it has in the country.

Calleja explained to them that the Cultivando Oportunidades program, which has been operating for 10 years in the country, has allowed them to support the Salvadoran agricultural sector by buying the fruits and vegetables they produce, which are offered in the Super Selectos sales rooms and that It generates income for farmers.

Currently, Súper Selectos buys around 100 varieties of agricultural products, fish and shellfish from the Acceso company for a value of $7.5 million a year. And as part of the Cultivating Opportunities program, purchases from local producers in the fields of agriculture and seafood in 2022 amounted to more than $21 million.

The supplier company of the supermarket chain works with more than 2,000 local producers, from whom it purchases their crops in four collection centers located in Chalatenango (2), Atiquizaya and Garita Palmera. These farmers generate between 2 and 4 permanent jobs for each one.

“We feel very honored and happy to be able to participate with the New York University students who are here in a course studying the case of Acceso and Super Selectos with the farming communities throughout El Salvador and that value chain model that we have had and listen to their questions,” said Calleja.

He added that the studies that the young people are doing “motivate us to continue working and developing this concept that has become a success.

The students of the Wagner master’s degree, as part of their academic specialization, investigate initiatives and projects of private companies focused on making a positive social impact in communities, for example how to mitigate migration, violence and generate opportunities for women, indicated Calleja .

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For their part, some students explained that it has been interesting to learn about this model and the way it benefits local producers, as well as the social work that is achieved through the program.

Laura Rojas, who is originally from Colombia and has been studying for a master’s degree at NYU for a year, said that after listening to Calleja’s presentation they have been able to learn about the process of the business model.

“It is very important because we have been able to learn about a real experience of a business that is making a social impact in a country that has many challenges of education, poverty, inequality, violence, and this is a family business that is trying to make an impact that can benefit families,” he said.

He added that “it is an experience that we who come from different countries can take back to our places to be able to replicate what is being done here and see that it is possible to make alliances between local producers with foundations and international organizations with the private sector.”

He indicated that in Colombia they are trying to apply the Acceso company model in regions such as Santander, especially in the most rural areas, but considered that it could also be applied in southern and northern areas of the country.

Likewise, Alexandra Kotis, another of the university students, who is originally from Miami, USA, highlighted that they have learned a lot about the Super Selectos with Access association, which connects local farmers with the supermarket chain.

“It is a little different in the United States, but surely we have many neighborhoods and cities that do not have the same access to healthy products because it is more fast food, so find models in which we can improve the situation for people who do not have access to food healthy would be good and when studying the case of Super Selectos and Acceso it can be applied”, considered the young woman.

For her it is more important to learn from real cases, because they teach more than the theory in books.

Model expansion

For his part, the director of operations of the Acceso company, Andrés Baiza, explained that this business model has also been replicated in Colombia and Haiti, but they are also planning to start in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Baiza highlighted that they have grown locally because other sectors have joined.

“It all started in 2014 when operations with Super Selectos began and gradually grew in volume and producers, then restaurants, franchises and industrialists joined who are buying products from Salvadoran hands that reach homes,” he explained.

He stated that in 2022 they moved around 4,200 tons of products nationwide in supermarkets, restaurants and industrial.

Acesso provides more than 65 products from the agricultural sector and more than 15 seafood options.

Calleja also assured that there are plans to expand the program in El Salvador. “We are always looking at how to build relationships with Salvadoran producers, expand the impact we have in agriculture, and be able to reach more productive communities,” he said.

The businessman highlighted that the data shows that when finding opportunities in the countryside, Salvadorans tend to stay there, they do not migrate to the cities or to other countries. “And that is what we are achieving and what these young people are studying with the case of Cultivating Opportunities. We work directly with other providers and the idea is that the footprint is getting bigger and bigger”, he said.

In addition, Calleja remarked that about 10 years ago the company imported over 95% of the fruit and vegetables from other countries, but today they buy close to 60% of the products locally. “And that income stays in the country, circulates in the Salvadoran economy, generates employment opportunities, and has had an enormous multiplier effect,” he highlighted.

Therefore, he considered that this program can continue to grow, expand the product categories, for example, he said that in the fishing industry there are products that are selling more and more.

“The idea is not to rest and to continue searching and generating opportunities for the country’s producers,” he added.

Calleja indicated that there are plans to expand the program to other areas of the country.