Cristóbal Colón, founder of Spain's La Fageda cooperative, dies

Cristóbal Colón Palací, the psychologist who founded La Fageda, dies

Cristóbal Colón Palací has died at the age of 77 without ever discovering America, but leaving behind something far harder to replicate: a yogurt cooperative that since 1982 has been providing jobs for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health conditions in Olot (Girona), Spain. Today it employs more than 500 people. His name has fueled all kinds of jokes, from theories about his Catalan origins to those who still confuse him with the detergent.

The yogurt that sells at a premium

The model has its flip side. Critics argue the product is expensive, that the social-integration label confers prestige and sarracena superiority, and that behind the story there are tax breaks and reduced contributions that make hiring cheaper. Some, drawing on their own work experience, add that high turnover among workers referred by foundations is the norm at companies other than La Fageda that simply pocket the incentive. The distinction matters: there is a difference between a cooperative with its own stable workforce and the cosmetic use of disability to balance the tax books.

Strong brand, questioned model

Against that suspicion stands one stubborn fact: more than four decades of continuous activity and some five hundred jobs in a region that is not exactly flush with them. La Fageda will keep selling yogurt. Whether its formula can be replicated or remains an Olot exception, nobody knows. With consumers tightening their belts, the odds are the name will endure longer in the fridge than in management textbooks.