When he was a child, he wanted to be an office worker and, in fact, he got to be. Unfortunately, times were different and his parents didn't pay for his school. “If I wanted to be an office worker, I had to study, so I went to work in a bakery” to support his own studies, he said.

In 2011, following the economic crisis, he was fired from the company for which he had worked for more than 20 years because he was “too expensive” for the company. In face of this adversity, Joaquim Palmito did not give in to circumstances and in 2014 launched his own brand – the artisanal caramels JP.

Since then, orders have not stopped increasing, not even the Covid-19 pandemic has been an obstacle to stop the artisan from selling his caramels. He already has “13 references of caramel”, that means 13 types of flavours, with coffee being one of the most appreciated by his costumers. “Every time I create a new reference, It always sells well and it doesn’t stop the other flavours selling despite having new additions”, he explained.

Joaquim Palmito, besides being an artisan, is an unmatched salesman. We only need to listen to the way he describes his caramels and the appetite will appear soon. “Communication is very important, and learned it in my last job. In fairs, I always try to interact and encourage customers to try the caramels and to experiment”, he said.

After this first step of selling, Joaquim says that people always like his product and – very often- they came back in order to buy more. Joaquim Palmito gives the example of a lady who tried his sweets and went back to buy three more bags: “I had a costumer who bought a bag of carob caramel, she went to her car and tasted it with the people who were with her and then she went back to buy three more bags. She said it was a delight”.

He usually sells his caramels at fairs, but now with the Covid-19 pandemic, fairs aren’t allowed, so he quickly thought of solutions and started to sell in stores, one of them in Silves, and also in Intermaché Lagos, where he participated in the solidarity kiosk for a few days, and promised that next year he will be there again.

This man also was in Intermaché Lagos selling his caramels in the solidarity kiosk and it was another success! One woman who worked in the supermarket said that he was the one that managed to sell the most in that kiosk.

Currently, this 68 years old man already has 20 stores selling his caramels. However, he is the only one making it, so when the situation of Covid-19 is under control, he will certainly return to the fairs, because it is what he really loves and he is able to achieve the sales there.

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins