I almost didn't found Quota Vita.
When I crunched the numbers before starting, importing pre-formulated whey from Germany or the UK clearly came out to a lower cost per gram than producing it here. This is what all the big brands sold in Spain 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 with a brand that sounds local.
I ended up doing the opposite. I formulate here, in Catalonia, even if it's more expensive. Here are the three reasons, without any romanticism.
1. I want to know what's in the pot.
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 usual response is: "minimum batch, five tons, six months delivery." For Quota Vita's scale, this means never changing anything.
If I formulate here, I control all 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-stable wheys. Those from any large manufacturer contain between 10 and 18 ingredients once you add up 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 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" has 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 those people are here.
I am clear that this limits Quota Vita's market in the early 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 manufactures cheese and, as a byproduct, produces milk serum (whey). Part of it is sold as animal feed at a modest price. Another part is lost as waste, because not all factories have the capacity to process it.
Meanwhile, Iberian powdered whey manufacturers import raw material 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 loop 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 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 don't hide from you.
This decision has a cost. My whey is a little 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 sell you in return is transparency, carefully counted ingredients, formulation done by people who live here, and the path to closing the whey cycle in Catalonia. If all of this seems valuable to you, welcome. If not, there are cheaper and well-made alternatives, and I won't try to win you over.
What you can do now.
If you want to try it, start with the most purchased size (750 g, 25 scoops) or, if you know you'll take it every day, go directly for the habit format (1500 g, 50 scoops, the best price per gram). We have crema catalana, horchata, and plain.
Gerard, founder.