Conservas Cuca

Victor Pita Iglesias, founder of Conservas Cuca, was born in 1876 in Pontedeume. Like many Galicians in that period, he emigrated to Cuba where, after several years working on the island he began to work with his brother in a company that imported and exported Spanish products. He finally returned in 1923.

Victor Pita Iglesias' canned products factory was opened in 1935. During the first year the main production was sardines in oil, clams, mussels and razor shells.

In 1936 the brand Cuca was registered, as the company's main brand. This name comes from the nickname of one of the founder's daughters, Leonor, who was regularly called Cuca.

In 1940, 2 of Victor Pita Iglesias' sons, Leopoldo and Victor, started working at the family company. That same year, given the disappearance of sardines from the Galician rias, they decided to extend the range of products, adding bonito tuna and extending the range of seafood, with more clams and cockles. Because of the sardine crisis, Victor realised the dangerous situation of the Ria resources, and they advised the Union of Canned Goods Manufacturers, pushing them to seek new regulation and monitoring formulas. Added to this crisis was the scarcity of clams, thus they expanded creating another plant in Malaga.

In 1950, after Victor Pita Iglesias' wife died, he transfered management of the company to his 2 sons, and in 1954 they changed the individual company into a public limited company "La nueva Pita hermanos, S.A.”

When the sardine crisis in the Ria ended, the company closed the Malaga factory and they finally established themselves in Galicia, where they had 2 plants, one exclusively for sardine production, caught exclusively during the season. The second factory was for seafood and bonito tuna. They also extended the commercial network to all of Spain, which had been focused on Madrid and Barcelona as they were the main metropolitan areas at the time. However, at that time, with the purchase of the Massó brand that was popular in the Barcelona area, they reinforced their presence becoming the leading brand in Cataluña. In the 80's the third generation joined the company, thus continuing the family tradition.

Cuca currently has 2 plants in Galicia and in its constant search for progress, it has created new lines in the products in which it specialises, achieving accreditation from the Galician Regulating Council of Ecological Agriculture and creation of the Premium segment.