Incredibly Fabiana Milagros Ocaranza
found her passion for work in sweets.
What is incredible comes from the fact that Ocaranza is a technical chemist, a profession she was never interested in;
Later she chose law, which she left with ten courses completed;
then it was her turn in the real estate world, but it did not fill her, until she found some satisfaction in the textile industry, which, unintentionally, "of those coincidences in life", linked her with the master pastry chef with whom she joined to found, in 2000,
Milagros del Cielo, a house of alfajores from Mar del Plata unknown until five months ago.
After a week in which trained palates blindly tasted 350 flavors of alfajores, on August 8, the First World Alfajores Championship was held in Buenos Aires, in which 150 contestants from all over the world participated, who could present different samples for the 15 categories enabled.
"I don't like sweets, I almost never try alfajores," says Ocaranza.
Photos Gabriel Bulacio
Away from the competitive world, only concerned with quality and personalized service, Ocaranza
had no idea about the Alfajores World Cup.
"A client told me and I signed up without high expectations, not because I did not have faith and confidence in my products, but because for 22 years we have managed with
a low profile, austerity, without making noise
, but being very clear that we were going in the right direction," this refined 60-year-old woman explains to
Clarín
after midnight on a weekday in one of her stores on Calle Güemes.
He participated only in the Exotic Flavor category.
"There I presented two alternatives:
chocolate mousse with liqueur
and chocolate with hazelnut cream. The one with liqueur mousse was shortlisted among 15 finalists, won its category and
was chosen as the richest in the world,
according to a tasting by a jury of specialists", reviews Fabiana seriously, who, incredibly,
does not like alfajores
.
"I'm not a confectioner, I try some from time to time, but I die for cheeses."
The conversation with Fabiana, born in Caballito but raised and raised in Mar del Plata, is interrupted on several occasions by the constant entry of people.
"There are times when raids come to buy and although it seems strange now,
around one in the morning, they sell a lot
," says the founder, who loves to be at the counter serving to have contact with the client, listing the 19 flavors, also explaining
how to cut the alfajor
("please, do it edgewise because it is tall and weighs almost 100 grams") and even how to unwrap it.
"Does the alfajor have a world champion?" is the first question that customers who enter make.
Photos Gabriel Bulacio
"We were never interested in competing, nor in tickling
Havanna, Balcarce, Trassens or Chimbote, the historic brands
. Ours was always the struggle, sacrifice, quality and labor of a small premium product," he remarks.
"I never socialized with colleagues,
nobody congratulated me either, it
's a field of envy, jealousy, but everything is fine, I respect everyone."
Ocaranza, a boss who is in all the details, says that "for more than two decades we were four people working and, since August, the furor was such, such the demand, that
Not only did I have to hire more employees, but I also had to
invest in a machine to speed up production and in another to wrap
", an activity in which she became a specialist: "I wrap 400 alfajores per hour and I came to wrap two thousand alfajores per day" .
Each Milagros del Cielo alfajor costs $400. The dozen costs $4,200 and the half dozen costs $2,300.
Photo Gabriel Bulacio
It is not easy to find the lady who, at first glance, seems more like a stewardess than a producer who gets up at five every morning to go to the port where the factory is.
"My days are very busy.
I stay at the factory until noon, wrapping, arranging and loading boxes
to take to the shop."
From there he rushes off to the local pituco on Calle Güemes, where the certificate of "Best Alfajor in the World" is framed, and at night he heads to the other place on Diagonal Pueyrredón.
Milagros del Cielo owes its title to the fact that Fabiana is not only called Milagros by her middle name, but also because
when she was a baby she was hospitalized in serious condition
"but faith moves mountains and here I am," says this believing woman.
"It was a miracle that he survived and the sky is because I have deep admiration for that place,
what happens in the sky makes me very curious
, astronomy attracts me a lot."
Customers' favourite.
People look for the chocolate mousse alfajor with liquor.
Photo Gabriel Bulacio
It was also miraculous, he says as if to close the circle, the meeting with Antonio, the master pastry chef and material author of the alfajores, which occurred
thanks to a fortuitous meeting in Mar del Plata with a former employee of Ocaranza
when he worked in the textile universe .
"Fabiana, my husband lost his job. Anything you find out, let me know," he told her. And right there, without wasting any time, he made a formal proposal to the pastry chef.
Having won the World Cup that brought together manufacturers from Europe and America
changed his working life
.
"My private life remains the same -he emphasizes- but without a doubt this award was an unexpected springboard for the
little company
.
From making between 250 and 300 alfajores per day to making a jump to 2,000.
Do you know what that means for a small SME with four employees? It was a welcome stress, but boy was it a jolt."
"Please, since it's very big, cut it off on the edge," asks Fabiana Ocaranza, owner of the brand. Photos Gabriel Bulacio
On August 8, the firm was awarded the prize and
a day later the queues at both locations turned the corner
.
"It was a difficult time because we had no merchandise, it sold out in a handful of hours and we couldn't replenish or stock because everything we made was sold.
I would go in person to show the face of the people who did one, two hours of queue
asking him to leave because there was no more merchandise. Everyone knows me and they know that I always showed my face".
"But we did not take advantage of the world cup to bring it to prices. We just increased a little at the end of 2022 and today we have cheap prices for the quality of the product:
$400 each, $4,000 a dozen and $2,300 a box of six units
" , comments Ocaranza, a little calmer because "luckily we have merchandise to supply everyone."
Measured, with her feet on the ground, a dream reveals her to the new mistress and mistress of Mar del Plata's alfajores.
"
I would like to get to Buenos Aires
, have a small store in Palermo or in the center and then, why not, export to Spain. If I maintain the consistency that I had up to here, I don't think I will have any obstacles," concludes Ocaranza, who At the end of 2022,
one of the 10 celebrities of the year of Mar del Plata was chosen
, behind the most popular, which was "El Dibu" Martínez.
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