1914
Álvaro Justino Matias is born in Vale da Mula, a village in the municipality of Almeida.
At 16, he puts on his backpack and goes down the country to Lisbon, where he starts working in a grocery store.
Fate led him to meet a French refugee, who fled his country during Second World War: Dr. Bayard. They become inseparable friends and Álvaro literally puts bread in his mouth and food on the table.
When Dr. Bayard is finally able to return to France, he shares a treasure with his friend: the secret recipe for some medicinal drops, very well kept in a metal with an engraved image of a gentleman coughing.
Years later, Álvaro can transform the present into his future and Dr. Bayard′s drops are born. He starts producing the pectoral cough drops at home, with the help of his family, as if they were alchemists in search of the most powerful elixir in the fight against cough.
Dr. Bayard takes the first steps towards the future with the purchase of the first machine to manufacture the drops at home. This was a great help for Álvaro, whose muscles were dedicated to this hard and physical part of the process. This was a great help for Álvaro, whose muscles were dedicated to this hard and physical part of the process.
The demand for Dr. Bayard′s drops is so high that industrialization is inevitable. This way, the doors of Dr. Bayard’s factory open as we know it today, in Amadora.
The drops go across the country, towards grocery stores, coffee shops, pastry shops, and, as they are medicinal, pharmacies.
With the demand for Dr. Bayard’s drops on the rise, the expansion of production goes from a dream to reality. Only in this way is it possible to produce around 1 million drops per day, always following the original recipe.
José António Matias, Álvaro’s son, inherits his father’s position in Dr. Bayard’s administration.
With the collaboration of his children, they continue the family business, generation after generation.
In order to shorten the distance between Portugal and the Portuguese abroad, Dr. Bayard creates an online store with international deliveries.
To celebrate the 70th anniversary, the children’s book “Um Milhão de Rebuçados” (“A Million Drops”) is released, which tells the story of how a great friendship gave rise to the perfect recipe for Dr. Bayard’s drops.
