Menudo Manufacturer Takes a Can-Do Attitude

When George de la Torre took over his late father’s fish cannery more than 20 years ago, he gambled that the company’s future was in menudo, not mackerel.

His first step was to eliminate the fish operation and devote the entire business to the manufacture of the popular Mexican stew, thinking it would be a sure seller in Los Angeles’ large Mexican American community.

What he didn’t bargain for was that few people believed canned menudo could be as good as homemade.

“It was difficult to get people to even try the product,” said De la Torre, the company’s president.

Despite the slow start, De la Torre’s gamble paid off.

Juanita’s Foods is the world’s largest manufacturer of menudo with annual sales close to $30 million. The Wilmington plant employs nearly 200.

The company’s trademark--a smiling Mexican woman in a brightly colored dress--can be found on the shelves of major grocery stores throughout California and in areas with significant Mexican American populations nationwide.

As the company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, Juanita’s is intent on holding its own in an increasingly competitive market.

“You have a lot of other companies that have come out with menudo and they still haven’t been able to touch Juanita’s,” said Steven A. Soto, president and chief executive of the Mexican American Grocers Assn. “They’ve been able to create such a strong consumer base.”

As the nation’s Latino population has grown and Mexican foods have become wildly popular, the company has expanded its line to keep in step. Juanita’s Foods now manufactures three varieties of menudo, plus another stew called pozole, the meatball soup albondigas, Mexican-style hominy, mole sauce and a variety of hot sauces.

In 1995, total retail sales of Mexican foods, not including sauces, reached $687.1 million, an increase of 6.9% from the previous year, according to Information Resources, a Chicago-based research firm. Sales of Mexican sauces surged 5.5% to $785.6 million last year.

Meanwhile, the number of Latinos has increased from 6.4% of the population in 1980 to 10.1% in 1995, according to the U.S. Census. In California, Latinos made up 19.2% of the population in 1980, increasing to 29.0% in 1995.

“We’re fortunate to be in a very growing market,” said De la Torre, who runs the company along with his children, Gina Harpur and Mark de la Torre.

Juanita’s officials say the company has been successful in part because it forged into unchartered areas of the food industry. Juanita’s was the first to market ready-to-serve menudo, Mexican-style hominy and mole sauce, its newest product.

We “try to avoid products that . . . compete with mainstream corporate America,” De la Torre said. “Instead, we chose to go after very innovative products that the consumers would have an interest in.”

In many Mexican and Mexican American families, menudo is a special dish traditionally served at family gatherings. The stew is made by simmering beef tripe, a tough meat from a cow’s stomach lining, and a variety of spices in a beef broth for hours until it is tender. To prepare enough menudo for an average family from scratch could take as long as 10 hours.

Juanita’s products, said operations manager Gina Harpur, are for third-generation Latinos who haven’t learned or don’t have time to make these traditional dishes from scratch.

Founded in 1946 by George de la Torre Sr. and his nephew Albert Guerrero, Juanita’s Foods began as Harbor Canning Co. The main focus of the business was on packing fish until George de la Torre Jr. came on board in 1968 after his father’s death.

For years, De la Torre said, the company had struggled to overcome the widely held notion in the Latino community that “if it’s in a can, it can’t be any good.”

But because the company’s survival depended on the success of that one product, De la Torre dedicated himself to making it work.

The company employed a sales manager, conducted countless in-store demonstrations and hired a firm to represent the product and get it into large, mainstream grocery stores.

Sales have more than quadrupled since the company moved into its current facility in 1984, according to De la Torre.

The products are sold at most supermarket chains in the Los Angeles area--the company’s largest market. Besides California, Juanita’s also ships soups and sauces to states with large Mexican American populations, including Oregon, Washington and Texas, and to cities such as Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Denver and Chicago.

The company also exports menudo to Mexico but hasn’t had much success there.

“Just as we started getting a feeling for the market, the peso devalued and it’s basically just slammed the door on our possibilities in Mexico,” marketing manager Bill Sneen said.

In December 1994, the value of Mexico’s currency plunged 35%, making U.S. products more expensive for Mexican consumers. After the economic crisis hit, Sneen said, consumers became more interested in affordability than convenience. Despite the setback, the company will continue its attempt to expand into Mexico.

Said De la Torre, “We’re at the fun part of the business now where the base is established, and it’s just a matter of trying to reach your potential.”