1 · T H E H I S PA N I C A M E R I C A N E X P E R I E N C E
May 10, 1993
From the Pages of USA TODAY
From desperation, an empire:
Goya Foods born of a job lost
J
ust inside Goya Foods’ headquarters here [in Secaucus, New Jersey], a sepia-toned mural tells the
history of the company’s founders.
It shows how patriarch [male head of the family]
Prudencio Unanue (u-NA-nu-way) immigrated from
his native Spain to Puerto Rico in 1904 and to New
York in 1915. There, he established what has become
the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the USA.
For two decades, Prudencio worked odd jobs in
the food industry before he got on with a Spanish importer of olives and canned sardines. Then the Spanish
Civil War started, halting trade and throwing Prudencio out of a job.
Unemployed, desperation became his inspiration,
recalls his son, Joseph. “He had to do something. We
had four kids and we had to eat.”
Homesick for the foods of Spain and Puerto Rico,
Unanue believed Puerto Ricans, Cubans and other Caribbean immigrants were too. So in 1936, he and his
wife, Carolina, also of Spanish descent, started Goya
Foods, the name borrowed from the sardine label he
had imported.
In 1991, privately held Goya Foods had annual revenue of $410 million and 1,800 employees. In 1992,
revenue was $453 million, making it the USA’s largest Hispanic-owned business, according to Hispanic
Business [magazine]. The Unanues are also among
the wealthiest Hispanic families in the U.S. with a net
worth estimated at $330 million.
But wealth hasn’t come easily to the Unanue clan.
Most have worked to make Goya a giant brand name
along the East Coast, home to the U.S.’ largest concentration of Hispanic households outside the Southwest.
Joseph, 68, who took over in 1977, is president.
Brother Frank, 61, is president of Goya de Puerto
™
Rico. Their children and the children of their brother,
Charles, and their deceased brother, Anthony, virtually
all work for the company.
For decades, Goya Foods has dominated the Northeast, where it sells 80 percent of Hispanic foods. Key to
its success: It has flooded the market with more than
840 products—34 varieties of beans alone. Other top
products include rice, tomato sauce, seasonings and
olive oil.
Prudencio died in 1977; Carolina in 1984. Were
they still around, they probably wouldn’t believe
what their offspring are up to. The second- and thirdgeneration Unanues are shaking up Goya’s mainstay
Caribbean product mix with M&M: mainstream and
Mexican. And they aren’t overlooking the waves of
immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Central and
Latin America.
Coping with these different tastes means a serious
expansion of Goya’s product line, because Hispanics
of Mexican and Central American descent enjoy foods
unfamiliar to Hispanics of Caribbean descent—and vice
versa. In fact, Goya introduced its first salsa in 1990—
Goya Salsa Picante Sauce—which it hopes will one day
be as big as Heinz ketchup.
That may not be as difficult as it sounds, because
the market for ethnic foods is hot. While overall supermarket revenue [income] has been flat for several
years, revenue of Mexican foods sold at supermarkets
has doubled to $2.2 billion since 1987. It’s expected
to reach $4 billion by 1997. Last year, salsa surpassed
ketchup as the USA’s best-selling condiment.
But Goya faces stiff competition: Major U.S.
food companies, which market to mainstream
America, dominate the Mexican foods market. In
the sauces category, with $625 million annual rev-
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2 · T H E H I S PA N I C A M E R I C A N E X P E R I E N C E
enue, Pace Foods is No. 1 with 26 percent market share. Goya is far down the list, with less than
1 percent. And with rapid growth in the U.S. Hispanic population, more major food companies are
getting into the act. In January, Campbell Soup began
marketing its mainstream soups and V-8 juice to Hispanics. Knorr has developed a line of Hispanic-oriented products distributed by Iberia Foods, a Hispanicowned firm with annual revenue of $50 million.
“Obviously, they’re doing something right to be
where they are,” says Maria Ibias, Iberia’s advertising director. “But we’re following in their footsteps.”
To stay ahead of competitors, Goya must protect its
market share in Hispanic-owned stores while increasing its presence in the mainstream. Both will be difficult in the ’90s, says food industry analyst Ron Morrow. “Goya has been a strong regional label. It is not
strong as you go nationwide. But Goya can do well if it
doesn’t try to cover too much territory.”
Last month, Goya introduced a frozen bread pudding (based on a family recipe from Joseph’s wife,
Carmen) and a frozen cornbread. Next month, it unveils several Caribbean-style rice mixes. There are also
plans for another salsa and guacamole.
A similar foray into the mainstream from 1982
to 1988 went largely unnoticed. But timing couldn’t
be better now. Health-conscious consumers are replacing meat with beans to reduce cholesterol and
increase fiber. So Goya is pumping up advertising.
The old “Goya, oh boya” slogan is gone. In its place
™
are slick TV commercials and magazine ads featuring
a light-skinned woman and her family, who could be
Anglo or Hispanic, depending on one’s point of view.
They are as mainstream as a Rice-a-Roni commercial.
The slogan: “For better meals, turn to Goya.”
Every year, Goya introduces more spices, sauces
and other products aimed at immigrants from Mexico
and Central and Latin American countries. “As soon as
we know they’ve settled here, we look for products
to sell to that group,” says Conrad Colon, Goya’s vice
president of marketing.
Goya plans to shift its product mix, aiming to quadruple its revenue from Mexican foods from 5 percent
to 20 percent in five years. Its strategy: to invade the
West Coast, where the Hispanic population is 70 percent Mexican.
But first, the company must make Goya a national brand name. It’s hired distributors who know the
Mexican market. But competitors are working fast.
Campbell has distributed 36 million Spanish-language
soup recipes in tortilla packages. Knorr is offering discount coupons and other giveaways, something Goya
has never done. It also sells sauces, bouillon cubes and
spices Goya doesn’t handle.
Despite the heightened competition, Joseph Unanue, seated at his desk, a portrait of his father behind
him, is confident Goya will achieve its goals. As Prudencio taught him: “If you want it, you have to go out and
get it. Even if you make a mistake, keep going after it.”
—Rhonda Richards
USA TODAY Snapshots®, graphics, and excerpts from USA TODAY articles copyright © 2011 by USA TODAY. USA TODAY, its logo, and
associated graphics are federally registered trademarks. All rights are reserved. All USA TODAY text, graphics, and photographs are
used pursuant to a license and may not be reproduced, distributed, or otherwise used without the express written consent of Gannet
Co., Inc. For more educational content from USA TODAY, visit http://www.usatodayeducate.com/wordpress.
Copyright © 2011 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Lerner DigitalTM and Lerner eSourceTM are trademarks of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. LB ISBN: 978-0-7613-4085-0 www.lernerbooks.com