From humble beginnings in Spain, Cosentino is now a global powerhouse
Grandfather Eduardo Cosentino surely would be proud. The family business he started in the 1940s to sell stone products has become a global powerhouse with sales nearing $2 billion yearly– and with patents on engineered mineral surfaces used as countertops in high-end homes and hotels.
Now, the Spain-based Cosentino Group is building its first factory in the United States: a $270 million complex in Jacksonville that will bring production closer to U.S. clients and reduce the carbon emissions that come from shipping its heavy wares across the Atlantic Ocean. Grandson Eduardo Cosentino, CEO for the Americas, runs the headquarters from Greater Miami.
“No other Spanish company in our sector has manufacturing in the U.S.,” says Cosentino, who considers the U.S. a second home for the business that derives 60 percent of its sales from North America.
Cosentino entered North America in the late 1990s, setting up an office in Houston, Texas, where its initial U.S. partner was based. By 2010, it had bought out that partner, and in 2017, it moved its regional hub to Miami-Dade County’s Coral Gables, aiming to serve the broader Latin American market, ease access to its home base in Almeria in southeastern Spain, and tap into the growing cluster of architectural and design firms in the Miami area.
Business has been booming since that move. In the Miami area, Cosentino has opened a showroom in the Design District as well as a logistics center in Fort Lauderdale. It now employs roughly 270 people in Florida, with some 200 in the Miami area. Its job count is set to top 450 when the group completes its railway-linked factory on a sprawling 330-acre site in West Jacksonville in 2028.
Cosentino says the Miami area offers a strong, multicultural workforce that can easily serve markets across the Americas and Europe. Yet these days, “it’s hard to find talent, because there’s essentially full employment,” he says, with the official jobless rate hovering below two percent.
DOING BUSINESS IN THE U.S.
The Cosentino Group is known for its trademarked, engineered surface products. They feature Silestone, a pressed mix of minerals and resin developed in the 1990s to resist scratches and stains better than natural stone, often used for indoor countertops in kitchens and bathrooms. Dekton is a similar mix but without resin, which better withstands weather conditions and is often used outdoors for facades and flooring. The company now manufactures in six factories in Spain and one in Brazil, selling its goods in some 110 countries.
Tastes differ widely among those nations and even within countries. In the U.S., for example, the Midwest tends toward more traditional granite with darker colors and shiny finishes. New York instead likes more greys with matte finishes, while Florida likes whites that reflect the sunlight and “not much black,” Cosentino says. “The key is to adapt to the color, design, and taste in each market.”
At its Jacksonville factory, production will rely mainly on U.S. stone and other inputs, which likely will cost more than goods in Spain, but will help provide “faster service to U.S. customers,” says Cosentino.
Grandfather Eduardo could hardly have imagined such global reach. Sales topped $1.8 billion last year, with net profits exceeding $128 million and nearly 6,000 employees worldwide. When he and wife Eduarda handed over their store to their children in the 1970s, the family business had just 14 workers.
Nowadays, the company also shines as a leader in sustainability. It has already installed one of Europe’s largest solar farms for a single user, with 37,000 solar panels able to produce up to 20 mega-watts of energy for its main factory complex. It’s also implementing a five-year plan to cut its carbon footprint.
