Pastas Gallo was founded by José Espona in 1946, through the acquisition of a flour factory in Rubí, Barcelona. Back then, pasta makers only worked with soft wheat, but José Espona—with his entrepreneurial spirit and innovative mind—opened the way for durum wheat in Spain by convincing a large number of farmers to start planting and cultivating it. In 1958, Espona bought the El Carpio factory, initially a mill, and transformed into a pasta factory. The sale of durum wheat semolina pasta was difficult in a market that was unfamiliar with the ingredient. But in just over a decade, Gallo Pasta won over the hearts of consumers and became available in more than 100,000 points of sale throughout Spain.