Raúl Cardaba is a fruit seller. The TikTok fruit seller (@fruterotiktokero). He is 25 years old, has more than 300,000 followers on Instagram, 160,000 on TikTok and has managed to make the fruit shop – aptly named Vitaminas – that he runs with his father and sister go viral. And not only on social media. There are those who make the pilgrimage to Aristóteles street, 1 (Madrid) to meet the person responsible for making such unknown fruits fashionable. like the suckers (a sweet food from countries like Colombia, Venezuela or Paraguay, among others). He is now on vacation, but, before leaving, he has left almost thirty videos prepared so that his networks do not decline. A fruit influencer through and through.
Ask. You come from a family of fruit sellers. Was this always the only option?
Answer. I don’t like studying. I don’t get along well with books. At home I was given the option of continuing to study with difficulty or working in the shop. I had just turned 16 and I chose the fruit shop.
P. How do you get started with networks?
R. When I was 19, with a friend who worked with me in the store, when the TikTok app came out, we started making humorous videos without any commercial intention.
P. Until he decides that it is a good tool for the fruit shop…
R. Yes. It was about six months ago. After almost ten years working in the business, I felt like I had reached my limit and I considered leaving the fruit shop, moving to Alicante where my girlfriend is from and changing my life. While I was deciding what to do, one day, without any explanation, I recorded an informative video, uploaded it and until today. The growth has been amazing. I went from 25,000 followers on TikTok and none on Instagram to what I have now. I was a little scared. At first, I didn’t even put the address of the shop: my father still had a certain aversion to social media.
P. Can you tell me which video made the difference?
R. One in which he talked about soursop (a fruit from the American continent) and its properties. That video already had 4 or 5 million views.
P. You are a living example of how to make professions survive and modernize.
R. All these jobs are being lost and will end up being lost if they are not given a different approach. You are only a fruit seller if you like being one. The slavery of this type of business is brutal.
P. A very hard job, to which we must add his double shift as a social media star…
R. I have almost three jobs. The physical one in the store, going to Mercamadrid every day it opens (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday), dispatching (a lot of people come who want me to serve them); creating content for social networks and answering orders. There could be one person in charge of each thing and I would have work for the whole day. In fact, we have just hired someone new. We have opened another Instagram account (@vitaminafruteria) to manage orders.
P. How many cell phones do you have?
R. Now two. Although sometimes I think I need another one. When I decided we had to sell on-lineWe didn’t have a website, but a lot of people were asking for our products. I got anxious and put my personal number in the Instagram bio. It was a daily harassment. Calls, messages at the wee hours of the morning…
P. Fruit shops like this one make clear the importance of personalized attention.
R. Here we pay close attention to detail, or we try to. That is being lost with self-service. We are professionals in our sector and we know how to choose the best fruit for each client. It is like the pretty fruit: a nuisance that has few solutions. The same farmers follow us. Since the pretty fruit is now in charge, the fruit that is tastier or juicier is lost. I buy the fruit in Mercamadrid by tasting it because I believe that the professional has to do it for and by his clients. You can be guided by weight or appearance, but the only way is to try and have criteria. A brand of peaches that has a great season one year may not have it the next.
P. In other words, he makes a killing in Mercamadrid.
R. Every day!
P. And what is true about the complaint that fruit is too expensive?
R. Prices used to vary a lot between bad and good fruit. Now there is very little difference. Buying an avocado in a supermarket because it is 25 cents cheaper is not worth it: you will not be able to eat it because it is hard as a rock and will not ripen.
P. One of the features of your account is that it introduces ‘new’ fruits.
R. I think people are tired of pears, apples and bananas. Realizing the diversity of colors, textures and flavors is striking. There are tropical fruits that are difficult to see that are now arriving here, in a way, thanks to the fact that I have made them viral. Mamoncillos, for example, were not sold. Now they are: there is demand.
P. With such a predicament, I imagine that you will not lack requests for collaboration.
R. I have a manager who takes care of that kind of thing for me. A friend’s cousin. If I have to respond to brands and business proposals, then I really don’t get there… I don’t do much. I’m very selective. For example, I’ve been offered advertising for sweets and I’ve said no, but I have created a brand of vegan gels based on fruit.
P. There is a certain didacticism in your account, like insisting that we are the garden of Europe.
R. We have millions of products that we don’t know or use and giving them a voice is important. Now Mercamadrid sellers tell me that fruit sellers come to ask for what I post on my networks…
P. I see you as Minister of Agriculture. How do you cope with fame?
R. I haven’t yet assimilated that I am a public figure and that I influence other people. It happened very quickly and since my life hasn’t changed…
P. But do you like it?
R. Yes. It is true that there are people who are more respectful than others, but the feedback It’s always very nice. People write to thank me or are happy that I’m doing well. And then there’s the fact that other fruit sellers, even older ones, ask me questions and learn from me.
P. What is the secret?
R. There are people who make fruit videos and they haven’t been so successful. I think there’s something in my way of communicating. What is it? I imagine it’s the passion I have for what I do.
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