The brand joins the Costa Food Group holding to strengthen its presence in the cold meats and traditional cured sausage market

La Alegría Riojana exports more than 40% of its production to European and Latin American markets

La Alegría Riojana, which specialises in the production of high quality cold meats and traditional cured sausages, has recently been acquired by Grupo Costa with the aim of increasing its presence in the processed meats market and enhancing its portfolio with a niche of value such as traditional chorizo. The group’s CEO, Jorge Costa, explains that the company from La Rioja has joined the Costa Food Group holding, the only national meat producer to currently purvey pork, chicken and turkey, in order to strengthen its commitment to reach the end consumer, in both domestic and international markets: “La Alegría Riojana increases our current range of ‘Iberico’ and white pork products, with its wide assortment in the category of cold meats, loin pork and cured hams. This brand is very well positioned in the European and Latin American markets, and it is the perfect complement to the current Costa Food Group brands in the processed meats segment.”

La Alegría Riojana, with a turnover of 19 million euros in 2020, has a production plant in Camprovín (La Rioja), in the Sierra de Moncalvillo mountains, a privileged location for the natural drying process of the products thanks to the climate and its height of 673 metres above sea level, which confers a characteristic flavour to the brand’s cold meats. “La Alegría Riojana’s mission is fully aligned with the objective of Costa Food Group: to be natural from the start. Meeting high standards in quality, food safety and the effectiveness of our traceability process are commitments that unite us with regard to consumer welfare as well as job creation in rural areas and the preservation of the values of a family business,” adds Costa.

The current management team and the 47 employees of La Alegría Riojana will join the staff of Grupo Costa, which is now one of the biggest meat groups in Spain with over 4,700 people and an aggregate turnover of 1,500 million euros in 2020. In 2018 it became the first white pork producer in Spain to obtain the AENOR Welfair™ certification for Animal Welfare in all its 850+ farms for its entire production process: from the raising and transformation of pigs to the presentation of its meat products.

About Grupo Costa

Grupo Costa, based in Aragon, currently has the third largest livestock population in Europe under the name of Piensos Costa and is present in the agri-food, renewable energy, automotive, crop protection, hotel and real estate sectors. Within the agri-food sector, where it also has the Bodega Sommos wineries, it operates in 107 countries through the Costa Food Group meat holding, which is composed of Costa Food Meat, Casademont, Ibéricos Costa, Tan ricos, Villar, Aviserrano, Roler, and now, La Alegría Riojana. Thanks to all of these brands, the entire production process of pork, chicken and turkey, is fully supervised from the farm to the table, with the inherent premise of all Costa Food products: to be natural from the start.

Costa Group is currently present in eleven autonomous communities: Aragon, Catalonia, Navarre, Andalusia, Castile and León, Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, the Basque Country, Murcia and La Rioja