Media appearance

The 'made in Cantabria' ice cream cones that are eaten all over the world

The country

Saturday, August 19, 2023

«Whether you are in Madrid, Paris or Seoul, if you eat your ice cream cone down to the last crumb because it is delicious, it is almost certainly made in Cantabria.»

«Our goal is to make the best wafers in the world. “We are committed to products that are good for health, with ingredients of the highest quality,” Purificación Ríos insists.

«And what is the perfect wafer? “Delicious, golden in color, toasted but not burnt. “Zero acrylamides,” says Purificación Ríos, president of the Gonzalo Ríos firm.

«“Visually, some cones or wafers may seem the same to you, but not all of them are the same. Nothing like one of those wafers that are like cardboard to one of ours. Eat the wafer, savor it and see how it behaves in your mouth. Is it crispy? Is it pleasant or is it difficult for you to bite into it? How does it leave your palate? Clean or with a light layer of grease?

«wafers have an 18-month guarantee that they are perfect and crispy, and they take great care in packaging and shipping, well prepared to avoid breakage. And it is not easy to stack such a fragile material: tulips, fans, rolls, square and round cookies, cones... The cone is iconic, the best seller (natural or wrapped in chocolate); with sizes from 65 millimeters high (the mini) to 280 millimeters high and 55 millimeters in diameter.

« The factory works 24 hours. About 80,000 pieces leave Gonzalo Ríos every day.

«“My father has always been a fighter, very innovative and commercial. Without knowing the language, he traveled around France with his van selling wafers to Cantabrian emigrants who had gone there out of necessity, out of hunger, and who had created dairies and ice cream parlors. He told me that he would stare at people, he would ask anyone who saw a Spanish face and that's how he would get to the places."

La Tramontana, the suburban ice cream parlor with its own workshop that is triumphing in Madrid

The country

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

«The wafers arrive from Gonzalo Ríos, in Bárcena de Cicero (Cantabria). And from a little further away, vanilla, which is from Tahiti and Madagascar. “It is important that the customer knows that we have controlled all the ingredients with which we make our products,” adds Abachian.

Discover and taste Cantabria through local products

The Montañés Diary

Saturday, July 24, 2021

"High-quality things are made and the public has to know it, value it and, above all, have it within their reach."

«It seemed like a great idea to us, so we adhered to it as soon as we found out about it. Through this 'marketplace' everything that is produced in Cantabria is made known to the market, something essential since there is still a lot of ignorance about it today. High quality things are manufactured and the public has to know it, has to value it but, above all, has to have it within their reach. Our online store is aimed at large consumers and cantabriaenlamesa.com is aimed at the final consumer, so it brings us closer to a new customer, also opening a window outside the region. "We want to give prominence to our product, which always seems linked to ice cream, but which can be consumed in many ways."

The vindication of the undervalued wafer

The country

Thursday, August 30, 2018

«A classic ice cream parlor like Los Alpes, also in Madrid, has been nourished by Gonzalo Ríos ice cream cones for forty years. ».

«Artisans since 1958, this original family business from the Pasiegos Valleys is in its third generation in Santander.»

«Their strongest market is Europe, although they serve wafers to almost everyone. Gonzalo Ríos is present in 35 countries. "In Spain they always start to sell more in the center and in the south because summer arrives earlier than in the north but then the sales level out."

Gonzalo Ríos Barquillos, a story of overcoming and adaptation

Ice Cream Art

«As the latest product developments, highlight the American No. 70 wafer with a dark chocolate crown and the No. 45 wafer with a dark chocolate crown; the artisan cinnamon, the short roll, the perfect heart fan to surprise with desserts, and a box of 6 wafers to have ice cream at home.»