They were accused of making ugly products but they did not give up: today they are in all Argentine homes

They told them That their products were expensive, heavy and ugly. For the first few weeks, he passed by his stained-glass bazaar every day to see if he had sold any, but he had no luck. It doesn’t seem like a promising start, however, that was a start Essen, the Argentine company known for its aluminum utensils that became a trademark. Today it continues to rise along with direct sales, despite turning popular kitchen meetings into demos on WhatsApp and TikTok.

Armando Yasci worked as a worker in an iron foundry in Venado Tuerto. At home, try aluminum that melts at a low temperature. He started making different pieces for his neighbors even In 1945 opened the Fundiciones Yasci dedicated to the production of lighters For home cooking.

It was the seed that later became the company that now has over 400 employees in the region and exports to Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Chile.

pots time

The reins of the project passed into the hands His son, Wilder Yaske,, who felt the need to reinvent business. The Eureka moment came in 1978 during a trip to New York. There I visited a branch of the Macy chain and saw pots and pans made of different materials, but without aluminum. Some took him back to his city and worked for two years to get the product he was looking for. In 1980, the first 300 pots were readyI stayed to discover how to sell it.

The bazaar did not work. Days passed and none of them were sold. It was Mirta, Wilder’s wife, who gave him the idea for direct selling. I told him about a colleague in my cooking class who brought plastic containers to sell during class. It has also inspired the brand name ever since Essen means “eat” in GermanThe language he spoke with his family. yasky He traveled to a nearby town to display his pots with some vegetables to prepare At that time, I managed to sell.

The brand grew at the same time as the network of distributors. For more than 40 years, the company has maintained its focus on direct sales and today It has about 20,000 representatives in the region. Now, meetings of fate have been replaced by intense work on social media.

The small foundry has also been converted into a factory with an area of ​​20,000 square meters and It includes other products such as steaks, grills, desserts, fryers, and steamers.

Also diversified by sale olive oil. In 1998 he acquired a farm in La Rioja and six years later She launched her brand Olivos del Salar After disbursing 6 million US dollars.

From one-eyed deer to the world

At first it expanded in South America through distributors, then installed its subsidiaries. In 2020 it was launched in the United States It is also beta testing e-commerce in Chile. Wilder’s sons, Helga and Wilder (H), both lawyers, put the family business on their shoulders.

With the pandemic, many people – over 100,000 – have turned to direct selling to generate income. Essen was shocked. You’ve sold 600,000 units, 25 percent more That in 2019 and His profits increased by 400%. But the rise this year has not stopped. In the first half of 2021, his sales were up 16 percent and his net income by 220 percent.