A TINNED potato crisp factory in Galicia founded by a man who is now 87 has been given a massive publicity boost – the brand features in a scene on the film that swept the board at last night's Oscars.
Parasite, a dark comedy from South Korea, won Best Picture, Best Script, Best Direction and Best International Film, and is the first non-English-language production ever to win the 'mainstream' categories in the 92 years of the awards.
It was also a big win for the company founded by César Bonilla, who remains at the head of the family business in Arteixo (A Coruña province), even though he is only five years younger than the Oscar Awards themselves.
César only found out that the Bonilla a la Vista tinned crisps his firm produces were on the shelves in Parasite through word of mouth, after the film was already being shown on the silver screen in Spain.
“News travels fast here,” César commented.
Bonilla a la Vista has clients in South Korea, although none of these mentioned to him that his tins featured in the hit production.
This said, since the Bong Joon Ho kitchen-sink drama went global, César's firm has doubled its production to keep up with demand, and online sales have rocketed by 150% in the past fortnight once it gradually became known that Parasite was up for several Oscars.
And this has given the local job market a boost: The company's 115 employees have now increased in number by another 12 in a fortnight.
The Arteixo factory makes about 550 tonnes of tinned potato crisps a year, of which around 40 tonnes are shipped to South Korea, which became a new market for the company in 2016.
“If we can't provide quality, we can't sell our product,” says César, who took over the family business from his father, Salvador.
The firm now trades in at least 20 countries, including the UK, France, Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, Italy, the USA and Panamá.
In fact, when UK prime minister Boris Johnson was Lord Mayor of London, he 'always had to have a tin of them in his office', César reveals.
He remembers riding around the province of A Coruña on his moped when he was 20, delivering the tins.
Although no advertising deal had been signed with the South Korean film producers – or with anyone else, for that matter – César is quite happy to see his tinned crisps win four Oscars.
“They can appear wherever anyone wants them to appear,” he says.
César has not yet seen Parasite, but plans to do so as soon as possible.
Photograph: Bonilla a la Vista on Twitter (@BonillaalaVista). The tin of potato crisps is in the bottom left-hand corner, under the table
