The birth of Marinela
Given their origins as cake bakers, Bimbo founders were always eager to produce snack cakes and pastries.
The first such snack cakes—spatula-made, US-style, round and simple, undecorated—were testedin 1954, in a mere three flavors:orange, strawberry and chocolate.
A subsidiary named Pabisa (Pastelería 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, “Keik,” (roughly a Hispanic pronunciation ofthe English-languagecake) and set to work with amodest team offourteen and a singledeliverytruck.
Therealitywas that Keikwasn’t a hitin Mexico and Pabisa was replaced by a new project, to be market-launched in less than a year. From then on thepetiteblond-girl logo took the name Marinela and a new line of single-serving snack cakes was launchedbearingkicky names likeCanastitas, Pipuchos, Delicias, EmpanadasandTartaletas,among many others.
The snack-cakes were hard tohandle,and distribution was all but impossible since they had no wrappers and presented only in red-paper cupcake molds. Following much experimentation, Technical DirectorAlfonso Velasco happened on a formula and developed products to be suitably wrapped, such as Gansitos and Bobonetes.
