The birth of Marinela
Given their origins as cake bakers, Bimbo founders were always eager to produce snack cakes and pastries.听
The first such snack cakes鈥攕patula-made, US-style, round and simple, undecorated鈥攚ere tested听in 1954, in a mere three flavors:听orange, strawberry and chocolate.听
A subsidiary named Pabisa (Pasteler铆a y Bizcochos, S.A.) was created to operate the new line-of-business. The corporate branch that would later be called Marinela, registered a trademark, 鈥淜eik,鈥 (roughly a Hispanic pronunciation of听the English-language听cake) and set to work with a听modest team of听fourteen and a single听delivery听truck.
The听reality听was that Keik听wasn鈥檛 a hit听in Mexico and Pabisa was replaced by a new project, to be market-launched in less than a year. From then on the听petite听blond-girl logo took the name Marinela and a new line of single-serving snack cakes was launched听bearing听kicky names like听Canastitas, Pipuchos, Delicias, Empanadas听and听Tartaletas,听among many others.
The snack-cakes were hard to听handle,听and distribution was all but impossible since they had no wrappers and presented only in red-paper cupcake molds. Following much experimentation, Technical Director听Alfonso Velasco happened on a formula and developed products to be suitably wrapped, such as Gansitos and Bobonetes.
