OUR STORY

60 YEARS OF TRADITION

OUR STORY

1954

OUR FIRST CORNMEAL PROCESSING FACILITY

Juan Lorenzo Mendoza Quintero, son of Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury, founded a corn processing facility in Turmero, Venezuela, to locally replace imported ingredients and process the corn needed to brew the popular Polar beer.

This first facility would later evolve into Alimentos Polar and would represent the beginning of the production of P.A.N. cornmeal.

1960

CREATION OF P.A.N. CORN MEAL

On December 10, 1960, P.A.N. corn meal was first introduced to the market. This product was originally developed by Juan Lorenzo Mendoza Quintero and Carlos Roubicek, who took advantage of their corn milling facility to create a product that would allow Venezuelans to prepare, in a simple and practical process, the corn dough needed to prepare arepas on a daily basis. The corn meal was designed to simplify the manual processes of cleaning, piling, drying and milling.

The product had to be given a name that represented the idea of a 'Venezuelan bread' or 'pan' in Spanish. This gave origin to the name P.A.N., which stands for 'Productos Alimenticios Nacionales' (National Food Products).

1996

FIRST INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

On November 4, 1996, the globalization of P.A.N. corn meal became a reality when Empresas Polar established a strategic partnership with the company Productos del Maíz (Promasa) in order to commercialize P.A.N. in Colombia. This was the first foreign market where P.A.N. corn meal was introduced.

2003

NEW INNOVATIVE MIXES

In addition to traditional corn meals, the brand introduced a broader line of corn meal blends, consisting of the 'Extra Soft White Blend', based on corn and rice flour, and the 'Whole Blend', which contains corn and oat flour combined with corn bran.

Currently, the brand offers a diverse range of versatile corn meals and is expanding its product portfolio to suit a wider range of needs and cultures.

2020

ACQUISITION OF ANTOJOS ARAGUANEY IN SPAIN

In early 2020, the acquisition of Antojos Araguaney by Empresas Polar was successfully completed, increasing its distribution capacity and market share in Europe and Asia by introducing new brands and products in large retail chains such as Carrefour, El Corte Inglés, Costco Wholesale, Alcampo and Makro.

2021

NEW LOOK, NEW PRODUCTS

Empresas Polar introduced a new line of frozen and ready-to-eat products to the market under the label 'P.A.N. Snack On'. This represents a new stage of production and distribution, satisfying the needs of specific target markets, which will contribute to the refreshment of the company's identity. It also unveiled the new image of its P.A.N. precooked corn meal packaging as part of its 60th anniversary celebration, which has a fresh and modern design that has been warmly welcomed by its consumers.