Our Story

Sabor de Amor is Spanish-Welsh business that was founded in 2014, but the story of its inception and how it came about started long before even we ever thought.

 Our founder Beatriz Albo, came to Wales in 1992 to study for her PhD in Biochemistry and work as a Researcher for North East Wales Institute (NEWI). After attaining her PhD she worked as a scientist in Manchester University for several years until she had to give up her career to have her 2nd child. From 2003 onwards, she worked as a science and maths teacher in several local schools in the area, allowing her to be closer to us, her children, in Wrexham. Although like many careers, she became slightly disillusioned after 10+ years in what is a very hard and often under-appreciated job as a teacher.

North Wales is home to many of Wales' best attractions, encompassing immense mountains and coastline, but some of its best kept secrets are its amazing produce which can be found in farmers markets and food festivals across the region. These are events we attended as a family over the years and met some amazing people and produce, and as fate had it we were asked to help out a friend with her artisan cheeses at Llangollen Food Festival (which funnily enough I hate cheese but I kept that quiet). So thinking of what we could take, we went equipped with some loafs of Focaccia and some Alioli; a very traditional mix of crushed up garlic, lemon juice and oil that families all around Spain will serve up. Well, it was a hit, and after the 8th or 9th person asked for the recipe the penny began to drop that maybe one day we too could sell this at food festivals.

Shortly after, my 'Yaya’ (Spanish for Grandma) passed away. She really was the glue of the family, and amidst a dark time for all of us; life and its plans seemed to go on-hold…

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”  Dr. Seuss

The memories we all cherish of her and hold close to us are truly endless, despite living 1000s of miles away. Just like any other Spanish family, nothing can compare to Grandma’s cooking, and to this day my mum always jokes that having just finished breakfast, I’d already be floating to the kitchen asking, “Yaya, what’s for lunch? It smells really nice.” All she was doing was boiling water and adding a few vegetables to make the stock for the next day.

Every time she used to visit us in Wales she would always say, “If I was younger I would start a Spanish restaurant here.” I have no doubt she would have done amazingly. Maybe because when she was young she saw her parents do the same. 

In 1955 my great-grandparents opened their own restaurant in the beautiful city of Salamanca, Spain, 'Restaurante Roma'. It became a real family business where everyone had their own role. My great-grandad Matias took care of the cellar and he was a real wine connoisseur, while my  great-grandmother Teresa was the Chef. My uncle Antonio took care of the accounts, my uncle Enrique was in charge of the bar area, and my auntie Araceli and my grandma Elisa were in charge of the customer service and the till. It would be packed at anytime of the day: breakfast, tapas, lunch and dinner. A very popular place where people came to enjoy some of the finest food that my grandma Teresa cooked, She won many prizes for her food none more famous than her “Chanfaina” a typical Salamanca dish consisting of cuts of lamb and rice. It was such a famous restaurant that you could find famous actors, singers and poets all enjoying the atmosphere and food of “El Roma”.

Fortunate enough to have had these amazing cooks in our family, we are even more fortunate that many of the recipes were passed down to us scribbled on the back of letters and receipts… I do the same now, it must be a family thing. 

Looking back now, maybe everything was pointing at us to start a business that would share the flavours of Spain. Even when my friends used to come over, my mum would always make a Paella and they would go crazy for it…maybe that was the reason they came in the first place!

Well in 2014 we started our family business ‘Sabor de Amor’ - Taste of Love. It really sums up the essence of Spanish food; sharing great food with the ones you love. At the start we began selling a bit of everything Alioli, Jams, Tomato Sauce, Focaccia. Back then we were lucky to have everything made by us, Mum cook everything in our kitchen while her partner Paul who is an illustrator and Fine Art artist designed the labels and banners and they will spend hours in the evening printing and label jars ready to go to farmers markets and food festivals all over the area with a passion for sharing some of the things we love and grew up with. As great as some of them products were, we began to focus more and more on Spanish products and dishes…and eventually we thought back to the countless Paellas we had made for family and friends and realised that if we could bottle up something that would allow anyone to be able to make a perfect Paella in a few simple steps, it would be huge hit. After 6 weeks of experimenting and tasting, finally, we had a product ready to sell ‘Paella in a Bottle’ a bit of a homage to Sting’s ‘Message in a Bottle’. So, we packed them up and off we went to our local farmer’s market and… it barely sold! I think people were a bit confused about what the hell to do with it and it was, well, slightly watery and strange looking. 

So, it was back to the lab AKA kitchen to try and fine tune it. It was at this point that we got contacted by a production company that was working on a TV series for BBC2, a few weeks before a friend of ours had encouraged us to sign up for a TV feature that was advertised. Well, this TV series happened to be ‘Top of the Shop’ presented by Tom Kerridge, and to cut a long story short (I know what you’re thinking…the irony) we got shortlisted. We were only allowed to nominate one product and given the Paella in a Bottle's less than impressive record, we were in a bit of a pickle as to which product to put forward. With nothing to lose except humiliation on national TV in front of millions of viewers; we went ahead with the Paella in a Bottle.

Well, we won the sauces category, and it was a hit with people that we never in a million years thought would buy it, but the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive. Even though we eventually came up short in the final, it was this moment that really changed our business, and gave us the hope and drive, that one day, we could ’Share the Flavours of Spain’ with everyone. This is the dream we are still striving towards today. To anyone that reads this, we’re very grateful for being a part of this journey with us, as every step you take, is one step closer to our goal (ok no more Sting references).

Muchas gracias a todos que nos han ayudado y siguen ayudándonos en este camino de compartir los sabores de España.

Thank you to everyone that has and continues to help us on our journey, we can’t express how much it means to us.

By Albert and Beatriz