I was about to not found Quota Vita.
When I crunched the numbers before starting, importing pre-formulated whey from Germany or the UK came out to a clearly lower cost per gram than producing it here. This is what all the big brands sold in the country do. It's what you, as a customer, don't see when you buy MyProtein, Prozis, or HSN: the product comes from a European factory, is packaged in an Iberian warehouse, and delivered to you under a brand that sounds local.
I ended up doing the opposite. I formulate it here, in Catalonia, even if it's more expensive. Here are the three reasons, without romanticism.
1. I want to know what's in the tub.
When you import pre-formulated whey, you work with a technical data sheet sent by a supplier located 1,500 km away. If you want to change an ingredient (remove sucralose, lower sugar, add a new flavor), the normal response is: "minimum lot, five tons, six months delivery." At Quota Vita's scale, this means never changing anything.
If I formulate here, I control the five ingredients one by one. Quota Vita's crema catalana whey has five:
- whey protein concentrate
- sugar (1%)
- emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)
- sweetener (sucralose)
- flavoring
Five. Compare that to most shelf wheys. Those from any major manufacturer contain between 10 and 18 ingredients once you add up the colorants, acidulants, anti-caking agents, and regulators. It's not that this is harmful in itself. It's that I don't want to have to defend anything I don't understand.
2. The Catalan palate is not the international palate.
A crema catalana made in Manchester is a vanilla with cinnamon. It's not a crema catalana. Customers who have tasted ours alongside an American "crema-flavor" or an English "crème brûlée" protein know this. I notice it myself.
Why does this happen? Because the flavor suppliers for large European plants work with standardized profiles. English "vanilla" has one profile; French "vanilla," another. But there isn't a standard flavor library for crema catalana, horchata, or mató. If you want to formulate them well, you have to work with flavorists who understand what these things taste like from childhood. And these people are here.
I'm clear that this limits Quota Vita's market in the first few years. Catalonia, Spain, Catalans living abroad. I won't be selling crema catalana whey in Tokyo anytime soon. I'm fine with that.
3. Whey is abundant in our cheese factories.
This is the part most people don't see. The Catalan dairy industry produces cheese and, as a byproduct, produces whey. Some of it is sold as animal feed at a modest price. Another part is wasted, because not all factories have the capacity to process it.
Meanwhile, Iberian powdered whey manufacturers import raw materials from Germany, Poland, or Ireland. It's a ridiculous contradiction: we have the byproduct here and we buy it from abroad.
Quota Vita, right now, also imports the base. I buy dry whey concentrate from a European supplier, bring it to Catalonia, and here I formulate and package it. I don't yet have the investment to dry the whey myself. But Phase 2 of my plan is precisely this: to close the circuit with Catalan producers. I know the players, I've identified them, and I know what it would cost. The question is when, not if.
If I succeed, every gram of whey that Quota Vita sells will have traveled less than 200 km before reaching your tub. And every euro you pay will be euros that stay in the local economy instead of paying for international transport.
What I'm not hiding from you.
This decision has a cost. My whey is a bit more expensive than international commodity whey. Not much more, but it is. When you compare my 1,500g tub with an equivalent MyProtein tub, mine is more expensive.
What I'm selling you in exchange is transparency, counted ingredients, formulation made by people who live here, and the path to closing the whey cycle in Catalonia. If all this seems valuable to you, welcome. If not, there are cheaper and well-made alternatives, and I won't make you a follower.
What you can do now.
If you want to try it, start with the most commonly purchased size (750g, 25 scoops) or, if you know you'll be taking it every day, go straight for the habit format (1500g, 50 scoops, the best price per gram). We have crema catalana, horchata, and plain.
Gerard, founder.