Alfajor with salt from Havanna defies crisis in Argentina – 02/02/2024 – Food

First you feel the thick layer of chocolate and, soon after, the break of the two cookies. The filling is double, with a thin layer of traditional dulce de leche and, in the center, a second dulce de leche that is much lighter and creamier. But, in the midst of all this sugar, the protagonist is another: salt.

Perhaps he is responsible for the success of the new “summer alfajor”, which has been defying the drop in consumption due to high inflation in Argentina. This is the Mar del Plata special edition, launched by Havanna two weeks ago in honor of the 150th anniversary of the beloved coastal city of Buenos Aires.

Even more expensive than the original version, the treat already generates queues and even applause when it arrives at points of sale in the country’s coastal region. In 13 days, the company claims to have sold 295,000 units, twice as many as last summer’s launch, the gluten-free super dulce de leche, the most successful so far.

“And we could have sold a lot more”, says marketing director Martín Zalazar, but production has not been able to keep up with demand. “We are having stock outs. There are people lining up at locations waiting for the truck. The sellers say: it will come at noon, and people wait and applaud.”

Word of mouth spread across social media. “It’s out of stock. They sell the vegan one and they don’t sell this one”, complains, indignantly, an Argentinian woman on TikTok, frustrated when returning to her car. “It’s the fifth Havanna in which she goes after Mardel’s alfajor [apelido de Mar del Plata]”, jokes the caption.

It wasn’t something expected. “Thinking about the context of Argentina, we thought it would sell like super dulce de leche at best,” says Zalazar. The country saw its inflation double in December, after Javier Milei assumed the presidency, devalued the local currency and removed price controls.

This made people cut spending in all sectors, but mainly in food and drinks, even more so on superfluous items such as alfajor. Despite having sold well during the festive period, Havanna says it suffered a very strong drop in the first half of January, which has now recovered with the launch.

The success also challenged the Argentine palate. “It surprised me a lot. We are a little conservative in gastronomy”, describes journalist Mariano López, 43, who owns the profile Alfajores Marplatenses on Instagram and, obsessed with the sweet, has even been a judge at the world recipe championship.

“I’ve already tasted hundreds of alfajores, and it’s the first time I’ve seen one with salt, but I know that in other parts of the world it is widely used to enhance the flavor,” he says, who worked from the age of 14 to 30 at the “kiosko ” from the family (convenience stores scattered around every corner). “From the 1990s until now, I’ve tried them all.”

Mariano is writing a book about the history of Argentine alfajor and says that the Mar del Plata edition of Havanna provided a kind of closure to the story, as it connects the past and present of the treat. The city’s 150th anniversary was “the perfect excuse” to pay homage to the place where the brand was born, in 1948, according to Zalazar.

The sky blue packaging illustrates the sea, the region’s traditional yellow boat and, in the background, the 38-story building typical of the seaside resort, which is popularly known as the Havanna building but is actually called Demetrio Elíades, one of the founders.

“It had to be a very Havanna alfajor, very greedy. The tribute allowed us to express ourselves more, without so much care. So we added the two fillings, 70 grams of dulce de leche [o convencional tem 35]and we combined the flavors of Mar del Plata, fish, sea salt”, says the marketing director.

The idea was that the product would not be entirely salty, but that it would have an explosion in just a few bites, hence the salt crystals, contrasting with the very sweet rest. It was also created to be a seasonal product, but its success has already made the company start to rethink its strategy.

For now, the special edition is only available in the Atlantic Coast region. It will arrive in the rest of the country after Easter, so as not to compete with other brand products on that date. In Brazil, it should only be sold after six months to a year, due to registration times for export.

We are, however, a destination targeted by Havanna, as we buy a significant part of the 12% sold by the brand abroad and we have almost the same number of points of sale (around 200) as Argentina itself (around 250).