In 2012, siblings Manuela & Lucas Iribarren, learned about a recipe for cucumber pickles made with apple vinegar in southern Chile. After cooking them, the pickles tasted so good that they both wondered: why not do this professionally? At that moment, they did not know the direction that this discovery would take them. This was the beginning of By Maria, an idea that would change their lives. In a matter of just four short years, they were already exporting their products to the United States. From there their business just kept growing.

In 2012, Manuela’s daughter Maria was born. Lucas came up with the idea of naming their brand By Maria to keep the foundation of their product family orientated. "It was a North American recipe and the name of my daughter, that is very Latin", says Manuela. From the beginning, they worked together to construct a business plan with certain maxims: that the product has to be 100% Chilean, that the raw material, the ingredients, and the packaging have to be healthy and that all communication is clear.

For the Iribarren siblings, clear communication is key: "We are not just a company that makes pickles, we make a concept". They started their Facebook page and later on, an Instagram. They now have 30 thousand followers. From the beginning of their activities, in 2014, there was a boom. "The reception was super good, we started in April of that year and I went out on the street of Santiago giving away jars. In June, we already had 20 clients in stores. Later, we leased a catering space twice a week and a small cellar to store."

There was a strategy from the beginning. They have participated in several contests and they paid close attention to the results to help them improve on their products. "We have managed to translate the values of the company in our networks in an honest way. The size we have, the way we think. We show ourselves as a cool company, Chilean, healthy, with good quality products, and playful, not too serious."