October 28, 2024 • 28 mins
Hi, I’m Margarita, the founder of MASPANADAS. My husband Andy and I were raising our three boys while trying to keep up with our busy professional lives, and failing at finding healthier, tasty family meal options that fit in between business calls, soccer games and carpools.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs you Should Know, powered
by iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Let's be Margarita Womack. She is the founder and CEO
of Moss Panadas, a local and evergrowing company that offers
and makes a variety of empanadas. Before we talk more
about Margarita's incredible journey from her home country in Bogota,
Colombia to creating a company and a brand that's distributed everywhere.
I first asked her to talk a little bit about herself,
where she's from and her origin story.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I grew up in Bogota, Columbia and started college there.
I had the chance to do three semesters at and Ina.
Then my family was threatened by a garilla group called
FARC and they were trying to extort my mother, and
(00:49):
my mother would not play the game. If you could
bly and pay, then they just go and threaten your
neighbor and keep some going, right, So the threats started
escalating and we had to leave the country. I transferred
to Tulane University, where I finished my degree in biology,
(01:11):
and then went on to do a PhD in ecollege
and evolutionary biology at Princeton University. And then we moved
to the mid Metro dec area when I had one
little boy and was pregnant. I taught for a while
at National Cathedral School, Science in the middle school. But
then I've always had the entrepreneurship bug. My family back
(01:34):
in Columbia we run a family owned business and third
generation there, and we had the opportunity to kind of
get something going because I had that point in my
full time job. I had a third child, so a
newborn and two little boys, and I was struggling really
without family community around. So a friend of the family
(01:57):
came to help me out, and I saw the opportunity
to started a little catering company and that would provide
her with a work visa for to be my chef.
And so that's why it starts. And it meant to
be just out of my kitchen here in the back
and meant to be a care and company for friends
and neighbors. But we started then at Union Kitchen, the
(02:18):
incubator kitchen in DC, and as the business grew, we
realized that it was a very large business opportunity throws
and foods with our best sellers and panas, and so
here we are now seven years later, with actual national
presence with our product.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, it's an extraordinary story, and I want to talk
a lot about cooking because I know that's important. And
as I read your bio and as I learned about
you before the interview, when it comes to your dad,
I imagine that you know, cooking and food was in
the family and that must add an impact on you
what you do today. But can you tell us a
little bit about that, about growing up and food and
(02:54):
being around great foods and also healthy options too.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So my father is definitely a big food and he
owned two restaurants when I was growing up. One was
in an industrial area, a weekday restaurant, but most important
for me was the weekend restaurant. There was only open
on weekends. It was sort of outside the city, more
of a destination kind of place, the way you know
(03:17):
right now from d C. You might go to a
vineyard right and have a cup of wine and enjoy
some of the food there. It was that kind of
that kind of establishment, and we would just go with
him in the morning and spend the whole day at
the restaurant. And I was there from like have memories
from being four or five to maybe ten. You're just
(03:39):
wandering the place the whole time during the kitchen and
you're try and getting things in the kitchen and watching
how things are cooked. And that's how I learned to
make it. Banas that's a very traditional dish in Latin
America Colombia is a typical appetizer before a meal, and
they would be made by hand in the kitchen. It
was a lot of fun because we had to They're
made with corn, so you had to grind the corn
(04:02):
by hand and then shape the dough and then cut
it in a banana shape right then through the filling.
So definitely one of the things I used to like
to do in my father's kitchen. Now he always would
also cook at home, made a horrible mess in the process,
but always this sort of a sense that food is
(04:23):
not just important to fuel your body, but a way
to enjoy.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Life, right right. I love that that's really well said. Well,
let's talk about Latin goodness foods. And it's always interesting
to talk to entrepreneurs and founders and CEOs about taking
that leap of faith and betting on yourself for your
family and whomever is starting a business, because it really
doesn't matter what kind of business it is, including anything
(04:49):
that's the food industry. There's a lot of challenges, there
are business plans, and there's money involved, and then just
executing everything and hoping to grow it like you have,
which is really an extraordinary story. So can you first
tell us about just the origin once again about starting it,
and then I'll get into the mission statement and then
we'll get into the weeds about exactly what you do.
But can you talk about the overall arching idea about
(05:12):
coming up with it again? For us?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So it evolved through time and as I saw different
opportunities come up, than we adapted the business. So it
starts as a catering company. It was called Alsur Latin
Kitchen and Catering, so meaning a sour south of here
was meant to be a modern Latin American catering company.
And I started it because the reason I mentioned is
(05:41):
only one of the reasons was to help this friend
that was helping me starting the business well provide a
job opportunity for her as a chef. But then there's
a couple other underlying reasons. I as I mentioned before,
my family has a business back in Cologn. Yeah, and
my brother is the one that sort of runs our
(06:03):
part of it, and it's a very male center world.
I tried to connect and get involved with the business.
I thought, you know, being at a distance, it would
be a way to contribute and also stay connected to
my family. But always found it very hard to be
in a way pushed out, and so this this was
(06:23):
a way to say, like, look, I can do my
own business too, I know what I'm doing. He actually
challenged me from day like, well, you know, you're scientists.
You don't really understand business. You don't have the tools,
Like okay, well what do I need in order to
know what to do and have the tools? Well, you
need an MBA. Probably figured that I would not ever
(06:46):
go and get an MBA with three kids and a
full time job. Well guess what. I went to Georgetown
and got an executive NBA and in the process, well,
I had this little budget business and it was very
It was timely. Really. I was doing my degree at
(07:07):
Georgetown and growing this business at the same time, and
so it really worked well together because I was getting
all the theory, all the the theoretical aspects right behind
a business venture, but then I could turn around and
apply them right away. Many of the projects we ran
in class were applied to my company. So we had
(07:31):
had many of my friends classmates then come and help
me out, well, how does it work from the operations
perspective and what your finances look like. So I think
that helps significantly the business evolve into what it is nowadays.
It's taking several terms through time, and I think that's
part of being an entrepreneur. You have this idea in
(07:51):
your head about what your business should be, and of
course you think it's going to be successful and in
this case a product that people are going you want,
but you have to go and validate this right it
is a working hypothesis. You have to find information data
that actually supports whether this makes sense or not. And
(08:13):
in this case also as you learn more, you adjust
your hypothesis and change through time what you think will work.
And so in this case it be closer. I think
to the engineering design process, where you have this idea,
you have a minimal viable product I guess right, and
(08:34):
you try it out so it to people, have them
tested or taste it right in case of food, and
gain feedback from that. Comeback, make a new prototype that's
a little bit more advanced, might be verson one point one,
and then you go to version one point two and
eventually you have something you can feel confident will actually
work and make sense in the market.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Right, And I'm glad you said that, because it's always
about getting better. I think there's an old standard that
we've all learned whatever business we've been in, Margarita, is
that you can't stand pat if you have a good
idea or if you're good at something, because people around
you or even yourself can get stagnant with that, and
you have to learn and grow and get better. So
that's a great life lesson for all the future entrepreneurs.
(09:16):
We should also mention too that Margarita was a teacher
for a while too, and I imagine that you as
a teacher, and every teacher that I've ever known is
very pragmatic because you have to plan everything out. So
I imagine that also assisted to you with a business plan.
But I want to mention that because I thought that
was cool. In the middle of everything, you're also a
science teacher, and I thought that was a really cool
thing on your resume. All right, let's do this, So
let's talk a lot about Latin goodness foods, and I
(09:38):
think the first thing we should talk about, and it's
always ultra important when you start a company, is the
mission statement. So for our listeners that are new to
Latin Goodness foods, what is your mission statement?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
We want to make the best and banas in the US,
and banas that stay faithful to the traditional Latin American
cuisine but for nutrition, so they keep the portability, the fun, deconvenience,
but there's something that's good for you at the same time.
There's two more layers to it. One is I think
(10:13):
through food we can tell stories, and the Latin American
population or people of Hispanic origin in the US is
only growing, and I think it helps to then tell
more who we are and what we can contribute in
the US to the US. And right now there's a
sense that Latin America it's just a single monolist Mexico
(10:37):
down and this is not true. Latin Americans are incredibly
diverse even within a single country, and empanaas are something
that exists across Latin America in so many different forms
and varieties and eating occasions. So as we develop the brand,
I think we can tell some of these stories time
(10:57):
to specific traditions and show people more about the Latin
American culture. Finally, there's more of a community impact aspect.
Me As I am myself a Hispanic immigrant, I am
incredibly grateful to the opportunities that presented themselves when it
came to the US and took me to where I
(11:17):
am today. It's not the case for many Hispanic immigrants,
and I find that making something small can make sometimes
such a big difference. When you come to the US
and you don't speak the language, you don't understand the
metro system, you don't understand taxes, it's overwhelming, and with
(11:39):
some support, people can really make big leaps that will
impact their own lives, their families, and their communities. So
at our plant, we hire mostly immigrant Hispanic women in
vulnerable situations that we support in a variety of ways.
They have benefits and good pay, but also professional development,
(12:01):
and we help them with the skills, the tools, the
connections they need to thrive in the US.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
You know, Margarita, there's a common theme of a few
things that you talked about there, but one specifically about
paying it forward. I've talked to so many founders and
CEOs that have maybe come from a different country, maybe
a rough life. You had a very difficult situation as
you move from one country to another. Not to mention
the culture shock that you had to put up with,
but the stress on the entire family and then starting
(12:28):
this company and it ebbed and it flowed and it
got fluid. Yet you're taking the time to pay it
back to people, and it sounds like that's really ultra
important to you, and I really admire that. But unlesson
once again for a lot of people out there that
even though you've come from a difficult background, a hard background,
you work to get where you are, you're not forgetting
about the people about where you once were from and
(12:50):
helping them grow their lives and touching a lot of lives.
It just sounds important to you.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
It is absolutely essential, and I think it's one of
the most rewarding pieces of growing goodness.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Foods outstanding. Well, Listen, I'm on the website and I'm
looking at the packaging, which is beautiful, and I know
that's important too, because you want to you know, marketing
is a really big deal. But you also have a
lot of different options when it comes to the amp andadas,
and I'm getting hungry just looking at everything, like everybody
else who checks out the website that we'll give at
the end of our conversation, I promise for all the
people who already haven't googled it, but can you go
(13:21):
into the products about what you offer, because there is
a variety which I think is really cool and it's
innovative and it's great marketing. Can you talk a little
bit about it?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Absolutely. So, we currently have five different skills and markets
in retail. We do have others that go through other channels.
These are mini and bananas. So each banana is about
three quarters of announce with the idea that this is
something that is very fast and easy to prepare. Stick
them in the air fire a few minutes in the
oven works well too, and you're out the door, no
(13:52):
utensils needed. And because of the small size, this can
be an appetizer when you had friends that came over
and we weren't expecting them. It can be a great
snack for the kids that they can even prepare themselves
before their soccer game. It can be a meal when
they got busy and you can't have time to plan
for our lunch. So we have other products that are
(14:12):
different stices and different flavor profiles. Right now, the five
skws in retail, Chicken and beef are best sellers, and
those are the ones you'll find with wider distribution. We
have a fully vegan skill that's just veggies of course
in a green bag. And then we have spinitch and mushroom.
We just discontinued but replaced with a all cheese format
(14:38):
that has also it's made with corn dough, so a
little bit different than what we had before. And then
we have a tomato and cheese that we call pizza.
Those are the current five in the market, but we
are looking at other places we can be and other spaces,
so we're developing breakfast and bananas for example. We also
have sweet and bananas. My favorite is go or there's
(15:01):
a glava and cream cheese. Those right now go to
food service, so both large cases of bananas that you
might find at your favorite restaurant or a hotel or
an event venue.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Okay, so here's what I want to talk about now,
because you've got this wonderful business plan and you've got
a wonderful product now and lots of different choices, and
that's very clear. And this is really cool because I
have talked to a lot of people not necessarily what
you specifically do, but people that have food and how
they distribute that. And I think this is really a
great lesson as you're starting a company that has to
(15:35):
involve food, because you have to decide, am I going
to do this online only? Am I going to try
to get into a grocery chain? Am I going to
stay local? Am I going national? Am I going international?
So with all that said, when you started your business plan,
how did you wanted to distribute it? And where did
you end up as far as partnerships distributing the food
(15:55):
and how people can access it.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So I see entrepreneurship as a trial and error journey.
When we started right it was a catering company. We
then focused just on bananas and the idea was to
go nationwide in retail. But that's a very very big
step from a product you make out a shared kitchen
(16:18):
to then nationwide distribution in retail. So we started first
with honestly, just where could we access now sales? How
can we get people to try the product and give
us feedback to understand if this actually makes sense. So
we started with delis and a small sort of mom
(16:41):
and pop kind of corner store. So our first client
was Bradley Food and Beverage Arlington Boulevards and Bethesda did
where you can walk in and talk to the owner.
Tom an absolutely wonderful person, and he gave us the chance.
This is just a person that randomly into his store
and says like, Hey, I'm making in bananas and I
(17:04):
think it would be a great fit for your store.
So most people would be very dismissive, like Okay, see
you later. He actually was willing to help, and I
think he does this often with people trying to get
started with a food business. So we were on his delicanter.
People could walk in and just as they would order
a sandwich, they could order bananas that they would put
(17:25):
in the oven and give them hot to go, and
gave us a chance to learn a little bit about
what people thought about the in bananas and whether the
market was ready to go, and also start getting some
cash flow. Right. We got a second store, a third
store that way. At that point we had thought about, okay,
we have a packaging. It's better than the large and
bananas the small ones, what flavors are most popular that
(17:46):
we can start with, and finally had something to start
with that we could walk to like a large retailer
and think how do we grow from here. When we
finally had our packaging ready for shelves at grocery store
in the free is, we had the opportunity to launch
with Dawson's Market. Michelle, the founder is very supportive of
(18:08):
female entrepreneurs and she often hosted emerging brands and given
the opportunity to actually get on shelf, learn from it,
and grow from there. And we had our first chance
on shelf frozen for retail. Once we got a little
bit of movement there, then it was possible to walk
to our first Whole Foods. At that point, this is
(18:30):
pre Amazon, so you could actually walk to a manager
and they had some flexibility in what they could put
in their store. So we got one location to try
us out and have us on shelf. Then you can
walk to the next and say, look, we're the whole
Fluds on H Street and so they're like, okay, let
me give it a shot. And once you have three easier,
you go to five. And eventually we got planogram for
(18:54):
the region, meaning all stores were supposed to carry us
were part of the map of where products need to
be located in store from there you get a second
region and a third region and actually this month very
proud to say we are global with whole foods.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And so how do you neet an elephant? Just good
bide at the time. And the first few are small.
You know, you want to make sure you can chew it.
You want to smart to make sure the texture and
the flavors right. You might need a little bit of
Tabasco sauce on it. And then you take bigger and
bigger bikes.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
You know, it's really extraordinary how that grew and maybe
grew probably quicker than you expected, especially with a national brand.
I do want to ask you about the business side
again about that, because I think there's a lesson and
you and I probably experienced several times during our lives, Marguerite,
about be careful what you wish for. It's me and
maybe a big job in a large market in the
(19:46):
industry I am, and with you. We're into whole foods,
and now all of a sudden, we're into a lot
of whole foods, which means there's going to be demand
on your product, which you have to step up and
provide that. So, with all that said, as everything was
moving quickly as you were getting in now to multiple
whole foods, What did you do behind the scenes to
make sure that you would add enough product to give everybody,
(20:08):
to make sure that machine could keep on going, that
you could service everybody.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So it's a bit of a nag and chicken issue, right.
You need the sales to grow and get the money
to grow, but you need to have the operations to
actually fulfill the sales, need to pay for set operations.
This visual circle, right, And my approach honestly has been, okay,
can we get the sale. Once we get the sale,
(20:35):
then quickly scramble go back to or you have a plant,
what is it that you're needing place to then deliver
that sale and then make it happen because you can say,
for instance, one of the biggest limitations is capital. But
once you have that relationship and you can show the bank,
for example, or an investor this is actually happening, it's
much more likely you'll be successful, as say, increasing your
(20:56):
line of credit. So it's the first time we do
it the other way around. That's sort of how it
worked for the last seven years. And also, by the way,
you've got to be creative. You have limited resources, and
it can be very expensive, especially production in food once
you get to a certain level. Because we were able
to do things with a teeny tiny set of molds,
(21:21):
little plastic molds and you know, just the pod on
our stovetop, but that you can make a few dozen
in panelas that way, it's very different to make hundreds
to make thousand of them, right, and also from a
regulatory perspective, what you need in order to do so,
And so it was a little bit of learn as
you go, trial and error. Does this make sense? Does
this work? No? Step back, try a different path. And
(21:44):
so we used to have to get our line guy
with poxicle sticks and inductive to be honest at the beginning.
There's tons of very manual aspects that we still do.
But now finally we have the volume the sales to
now go the other way around on what happens is
we have a larger space, larger machinery, more efficient line
(22:05):
that then we can grow into and grow with. So
we just inaugurated this past friday our new plant in Rockfille, Maryland.
Congratulations and it's thank you, incredibly exciting. It's twice the
size of our current space of twelve thousand square feet
and has actual real machinery, and it's an actual full
(22:26):
line and in a straight line. Now there's different rooms,
a little curves and turns, but something that is an
actual industrial line. And we're so excited because it will
makes such a big difference and for the first time
we have a space that can make more impanutus than
we're selling currently. So I'm hoping now we'll have an
easier time actually bringing into sales and not having to
(22:48):
scramble be right then get what we need in order
to deliver.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Probably a good problem to have it, I can tell
your Jeff about it. So congratulations. Is this wonderful, this
growth of the company and where you started from so
small and now so low. Arge. I did want to
put a pin in the business for a little bit,
because it sounds like we talked about a little bit
earlier that you're all about, you know, paying it forward
and when it comes to fillingthroperty or any kind of
charity work that you like to be a part of,
(23:13):
whether it's with the company or maybe with the family,
what do you like to be a part of when
it comes to charitable causes.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Anything that can make long term impact. I think it's
what makes most sense because I certainly say providing a
meal helps for that day or for that time of
the day. Right, providing a few like a grocery run
can maybe get a family going for a week, But
(23:41):
what can you do that helps people long term, something
that won't only impact themselves as an individual, but their
families and their communities. So for me, any kind of
approach that can do this, I think is the way
to go. It can be from the education perspective, right,
(24:03):
either learn a new trade that you can make a
career off and earned enough to support yourself and your family,
or from the education perspective, say, opportunities for children to
access better education and then have better futures. Those are
the types of endeavors I like to get involved with.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Well, let's do this. I've really enjoyed this conversation, but
I want to get some closing thoughts from you. And
I could talk about ampanadas all day because I love them,
and when I started eating them when I lived in
New Mexico, they were okay. But I've run into a
lot of people that are from your original country in Columbia,
and there's something about Colombians and ampanadas that are just
out of this world or out of this world. Margerita
(24:44):
so and I've tried yours by the way too. No endorsement.
I've done them on my own and they're wonderful and
I highly recommend them everybody. But I do want to
get some final thoughts to our leaders out there. We
have current CEOs and founders and also future entrepreneurs that
are listening to this program and really enjoy it. Is
so incredible of coming from another country and the American dream,
and you did it from a very small, tiny catering
(25:06):
company to this large machine that you have now of
a wonderful product that's so many people are enjoying. To
some final thoughts about the company, starting the company, and
maybe just some words of advice for some of those
entrepreneurs out there.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I have to say this has been the most fulfilling
thing I've done in my life. It's certainly a challenge.
Every single day there's some sort of curveball you did
not anticipate, and honestly, within the same day you go
from taking over the world two we might be going bankrupt.
(25:38):
It's tough, but nothing worth in life. It's not gonna
have that cost in sweat, tears, and maybe a little
bit of blood. And I think it requires being maybe
a little bit of an adrenaline addict, maybe a little
bit of a masochist. But you have to enjoy every
(25:58):
step of it and enjoy the process versus just focusing
on the goal, and that allows you to be adaptable.
I think that's key to success, to always keep your
eyes open for opportunities and judge those opportunities based on data.
That would be my biggest advice to people to try
to take as much as an objective perspective and test
(26:22):
your ideas with actual data. Take small steps so that
if you trip and fall, you don't fall too far.
And do those as much as you can early on.
Go crazy, early on, make all those mistakes because you
can learn so much from them and they don't cost
as much as if you make them later when you're better.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
All right, let's give the website to everybody out there
so they can check out all the different choices and
the products and all the cool things that you have
to offer. What's that website for everybody?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Of course, at www dot mass bananas dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
All right, well, listen, you know I have so many
takeaways from our wonderful conversation. I appreciate your time. But
the one thing that I always get back from people
that are successful after all their hard work and their
journey that you had talked about today, is their passion
for the business. And I can tell that you have that,
and I think that's extraordinary. I don't know if you
know that, but you know in our short conversation it
(27:16):
comes through loud and clear over the speaker to me
in my ear that you are passionate about what you
do and the love that you put into this with
your family. So listen. Congratulations so far. Congratulations on the
new rock Fille plant that you have. I think that's
wonderful news. And the growth of the company and continue success.
We really appreciate you joining us on CEOs. You should know, Margarita, well,
thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
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Speaker 2 (00:06):
Let's be Margarita Womack. She is the founder and CEO
of Moss Panadas, a local and evergrowing company that offers
and makes a variety of empanadas. Before we talk more
about Margarita's incredible journey from her home country in Bogota,
Colombia to creating a company and a brand that's distributed everywhere.
I first asked her to talk a little bit about herself,
where she's from and her origin story.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I grew up in Bogota, Columbia and started college there.
I had the chance to do three semesters at and Ina.
Then my family was threatened by a garilla group called
FARC and they were trying to extort my mother, and
(00:49):
my mother would not play the game. If you could
bly and pay, then they just go and threaten your
neighbor and keep some going, right, So the threats started
escalating and we had to leave the country. I transferred
to Tulane University, where I finished my degree in biology,
(01:11):
and then went on to do a PhD in ecollege
and evolutionary biology at Princeton University. And then we moved
to the mid Metro dec area when I had one
little boy and was pregnant. I taught for a while
at National Cathedral School, Science in the middle school. But
then I've always had the entrepreneurship bug. My family back
(01:34):
in Columbia we run a family owned business and third
generation there, and we had the opportunity to kind of
get something going because I had that point in my
full time job. I had a third child, so a
newborn and two little boys, and I was struggling really
without family community around. So a friend of the family
(01:57):
came to help me out, and I saw the opportunity
to started a little catering company and that would provide
her with a work visa for to be my chef.
And so that's why it starts. And it meant to
be just out of my kitchen here in the back
and meant to be a care and company for friends
and neighbors. But we started then at Union Kitchen, the
(02:18):
incubator kitchen in DC, and as the business grew, we
realized that it was a very large business opportunity throws
and foods with our best sellers and panas, and so
here we are now seven years later, with actual national
presence with our product.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, it's an extraordinary story, and I want to talk
a lot about cooking because I know that's important. And
as I read your bio and as I learned about
you before the interview, when it comes to your dad,
I imagine that you know, cooking and food was in
the family and that must add an impact on you
what you do today. But can you tell us a
little bit about that, about growing up and food and
(02:54):
being around great foods and also healthy options too.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So my father is definitely a big food and he
owned two restaurants when I was growing up. One was
in an industrial area, a weekday restaurant, but most important
for me was the weekend restaurant. There was only open
on weekends. It was sort of outside the city, more
of a destination kind of place, the way you know
(03:17):
right now from d C. You might go to a
vineyard right and have a cup of wine and enjoy
some of the food there. It was that kind of
that kind of establishment, and we would just go with
him in the morning and spend the whole day at
the restaurant. And I was there from like have memories
from being four or five to maybe ten. You're just
(03:39):
wandering the place the whole time during the kitchen and
you're try and getting things in the kitchen and watching
how things are cooked. And that's how I learned to
make it. Banas that's a very traditional dish in Latin
America Colombia is a typical appetizer before a meal, and
they would be made by hand in the kitchen. It
was a lot of fun because we had to They're
made with corn, so you had to grind the corn
(04:02):
by hand and then shape the dough and then cut
it in a banana shape right then through the filling.
So definitely one of the things I used to like
to do in my father's kitchen. Now he always would
also cook at home, made a horrible mess in the process,
but always this sort of a sense that food is
(04:23):
not just important to fuel your body, but a way
to enjoy.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Life, right right. I love that that's really well said. Well,
let's talk about Latin goodness foods. And it's always interesting
to talk to entrepreneurs and founders and CEOs about taking
that leap of faith and betting on yourself for your
family and whomever is starting a business, because it really
doesn't matter what kind of business it is, including anything
(04:49):
that's the food industry. There's a lot of challenges, there
are business plans, and there's money involved, and then just
executing everything and hoping to grow it like you have,
which is really an extraordinary story. So can you first
tell us about just the origin once again about starting it,
and then I'll get into the mission statement and then
we'll get into the weeds about exactly what you do.
But can you talk about the overall arching idea about
(05:12):
coming up with it again? For us?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So it evolved through time and as I saw different
opportunities come up, than we adapted the business. So it
starts as a catering company. It was called Alsur Latin
Kitchen and Catering, so meaning a sour south of here
was meant to be a modern Latin American catering company.
And I started it because the reason I mentioned is
(05:41):
only one of the reasons was to help this friend
that was helping me starting the business well provide a
job opportunity for her as a chef. But then there's
a couple other underlying reasons. I as I mentioned before,
my family has a business back in Cologn. Yeah, and
my brother is the one that sort of runs our
(06:03):
part of it, and it's a very male center world.
I tried to connect and get involved with the business.
I thought, you know, being at a distance, it would
be a way to contribute and also stay connected to
my family. But always found it very hard to be
in a way pushed out, and so this this was
(06:23):
a way to say, like, look, I can do my
own business too, I know what I'm doing. He actually
challenged me from day like, well, you know, you're scientists.
You don't really understand business. You don't have the tools,
Like okay, well what do I need in order to
know what to do and have the tools? Well, you
need an MBA. Probably figured that I would not ever
(06:46):
go and get an MBA with three kids and a
full time job. Well guess what. I went to Georgetown
and got an executive NBA and in the process, well,
I had this little budget business and it was very
It was timely. Really. I was doing my degree at
(07:07):
Georgetown and growing this business at the same time, and
so it really worked well together because I was getting
all the theory, all the the theoretical aspects right behind
a business venture, but then I could turn around and
apply them right away. Many of the projects we ran
in class were applied to my company. So we had
(07:31):
had many of my friends classmates then come and help
me out, well, how does it work from the operations
perspective and what your finances look like. So I think
that helps significantly the business evolve into what it is nowadays.
It's taking several terms through time, and I think that's
part of being an entrepreneur. You have this idea in
(07:51):
your head about what your business should be, and of
course you think it's going to be successful and in
this case a product that people are going you want,
but you have to go and validate this right it
is a working hypothesis. You have to find information data
that actually supports whether this makes sense or not. And
(08:13):
in this case also as you learn more, you adjust
your hypothesis and change through time what you think will work.
And so in this case it be closer. I think
to the engineering design process, where you have this idea,
you have a minimal viable product I guess right, and
(08:34):
you try it out so it to people, have them
tested or taste it right in case of food, and
gain feedback from that. Comeback, make a new prototype that's
a little bit more advanced, might be verson one point one,
and then you go to version one point two and
eventually you have something you can feel confident will actually
work and make sense in the market.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Right, And I'm glad you said that, because it's always
about getting better. I think there's an old standard that
we've all learned whatever business we've been in, Margarita, is
that you can't stand pat if you have a good
idea or if you're good at something, because people around
you or even yourself can get stagnant with that, and
you have to learn and grow and get better. So
that's a great life lesson for all the future entrepreneurs.
(09:16):
We should also mention too that Margarita was a teacher
for a while too, and I imagine that you as
a teacher, and every teacher that I've ever known is
very pragmatic because you have to plan everything out. So
I imagine that also assisted to you with a business plan.
But I want to mention that because I thought that
was cool. In the middle of everything, you're also a
science teacher, and I thought that was a really cool
thing on your resume. All right, let's do this, So
let's talk a lot about Latin goodness foods, and I
(09:38):
think the first thing we should talk about, and it's
always ultra important when you start a company, is the
mission statement. So for our listeners that are new to
Latin Goodness foods, what is your mission statement?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
We want to make the best and banas in the US,
and banas that stay faithful to the traditional Latin American
cuisine but for nutrition, so they keep the portability, the fun, deconvenience,
but there's something that's good for you at the same time.
There's two more layers to it. One is I think
(10:13):
through food we can tell stories, and the Latin American
population or people of Hispanic origin in the US is
only growing, and I think it helps to then tell
more who we are and what we can contribute in
the US to the US. And right now there's a
sense that Latin America it's just a single monolist Mexico
(10:37):
down and this is not true. Latin Americans are incredibly
diverse even within a single country, and empanaas are something
that exists across Latin America in so many different forms
and varieties and eating occasions. So as we develop the brand,
I think we can tell some of these stories time
(10:57):
to specific traditions and show people more about the Latin
American culture. Finally, there's more of a community impact aspect.
Me As I am myself a Hispanic immigrant, I am
incredibly grateful to the opportunities that presented themselves when it
came to the US and took me to where I
(11:17):
am today. It's not the case for many Hispanic immigrants,
and I find that making something small can make sometimes
such a big difference. When you come to the US
and you don't speak the language, you don't understand the
metro system, you don't understand taxes, it's overwhelming, and with
(11:39):
some support, people can really make big leaps that will
impact their own lives, their families, and their communities. So
at our plant, we hire mostly immigrant Hispanic women in
vulnerable situations that we support in a variety of ways.
They have benefits and good pay, but also professional development,
(12:01):
and we help them with the skills, the tools, the
connections they need to thrive in the US.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
You know, Margarita, there's a common theme of a few
things that you talked about there, but one specifically about
paying it forward. I've talked to so many founders and
CEOs that have maybe come from a different country, maybe
a rough life. You had a very difficult situation as
you move from one country to another. Not to mention
the culture shock that you had to put up with,
but the stress on the entire family and then starting
(12:28):
this company and it ebbed and it flowed and it
got fluid. Yet you're taking the time to pay it
back to people, and it sounds like that's really ultra
important to you, and I really admire that. But unlesson
once again for a lot of people out there that
even though you've come from a difficult background, a hard background,
you work to get where you are, you're not forgetting
about the people about where you once were from and
(12:50):
helping them grow their lives and touching a lot of lives.
It just sounds important to you.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
It is absolutely essential, and I think it's one of
the most rewarding pieces of growing goodness.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Foods outstanding. Well, Listen, I'm on the website and I'm
looking at the packaging, which is beautiful, and I know
that's important too, because you want to you know, marketing
is a really big deal. But you also have a
lot of different options when it comes to the amp andadas,
and I'm getting hungry just looking at everything, like everybody
else who checks out the website that we'll give at
the end of our conversation, I promise for all the
people who already haven't googled it, but can you go
(13:21):
into the products about what you offer, because there is
a variety which I think is really cool and it's
innovative and it's great marketing. Can you talk a little
bit about it?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Absolutely. So, we currently have five different skills and markets
in retail. We do have others that go through other channels.
These are mini and bananas. So each banana is about
three quarters of announce with the idea that this is
something that is very fast and easy to prepare. Stick
them in the air fire a few minutes in the
oven works well too, and you're out the door, no
(13:52):
utensils needed. And because of the small size, this can
be an appetizer when you had friends that came over
and we weren't expecting them. It can be a great
snack for the kids that they can even prepare themselves
before their soccer game. It can be a meal when
they got busy and you can't have time to plan
for our lunch. So we have other products that are
(14:12):
different stices and different flavor profiles. Right now, the five
skws in retail, Chicken and beef are best sellers, and
those are the ones you'll find with wider distribution. We
have a fully vegan skill that's just veggies of course
in a green bag. And then we have spinitch and mushroom.
We just discontinued but replaced with a all cheese format
(14:38):
that has also it's made with corn dough, so a
little bit different than what we had before. And then
we have a tomato and cheese that we call pizza.
Those are the current five in the market, but we
are looking at other places we can be and other spaces,
so we're developing breakfast and bananas for example. We also
have sweet and bananas. My favorite is go or there's
(15:01):
a glava and cream cheese. Those right now go to
food service, so both large cases of bananas that you
might find at your favorite restaurant or a hotel or
an event venue.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Okay, so here's what I want to talk about now,
because you've got this wonderful business plan and you've got
a wonderful product now and lots of different choices, and
that's very clear. And this is really cool because I
have talked to a lot of people not necessarily what
you specifically do, but people that have food and how
they distribute that. And I think this is really a
great lesson as you're starting a company that has to
(15:35):
involve food, because you have to decide, am I going
to do this online only? Am I going to try
to get into a grocery chain? Am I going to
stay local? Am I going national? Am I going international?
So with all that said, when you started your business plan,
how did you wanted to distribute it? And where did
you end up as far as partnerships distributing the food
(15:55):
and how people can access it.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So I see entrepreneurship as a trial and error journey.
When we started right it was a catering company. We
then focused just on bananas and the idea was to
go nationwide in retail. But that's a very very big
step from a product you make out a shared kitchen
(16:18):
to then nationwide distribution in retail. So we started first
with honestly, just where could we access now sales? How
can we get people to try the product and give
us feedback to understand if this actually makes sense. So
we started with delis and a small sort of mom
(16:41):
and pop kind of corner store. So our first client
was Bradley Food and Beverage Arlington Boulevards and Bethesda did
where you can walk in and talk to the owner.
Tom an absolutely wonderful person, and he gave us the chance.
This is just a person that randomly into his store
and says like, Hey, I'm making in bananas and I
(17:04):
think it would be a great fit for your store.
So most people would be very dismissive, like Okay, see
you later. He actually was willing to help, and I
think he does this often with people trying to get
started with a food business. So we were on his delicanter.
People could walk in and just as they would order
a sandwich, they could order bananas that they would put
(17:25):
in the oven and give them hot to go, and
gave us a chance to learn a little bit about
what people thought about the in bananas and whether the
market was ready to go, and also start getting some
cash flow. Right. We got a second store, a third
store that way. At that point we had thought about, okay,
we have a packaging. It's better than the large and
bananas the small ones, what flavors are most popular that
(17:46):
we can start with, and finally had something to start
with that we could walk to like a large retailer
and think how do we grow from here. When we
finally had our packaging ready for shelves at grocery store
in the free is, we had the opportunity to launch
with Dawson's Market. Michelle, the founder is very supportive of
(18:08):
female entrepreneurs and she often hosted emerging brands and given
the opportunity to actually get on shelf, learn from it,
and grow from there. And we had our first chance
on shelf frozen for retail. Once we got a little
bit of movement there, then it was possible to walk
to our first Whole Foods. At that point, this is
(18:30):
pre Amazon, so you could actually walk to a manager
and they had some flexibility in what they could put
in their store. So we got one location to try
us out and have us on shelf. Then you can
walk to the next and say, look, we're the whole
Fluds on H Street and so they're like, okay, let
me give it a shot. And once you have three easier,
you go to five. And eventually we got planogram for
(18:54):
the region, meaning all stores were supposed to carry us
were part of the map of where products need to
be located in store from there you get a second
region and a third region and actually this month very
proud to say we are global with whole foods.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And so how do you neet an elephant? Just good
bide at the time. And the first few are small.
You know, you want to make sure you can chew it.
You want to smart to make sure the texture and
the flavors right. You might need a little bit of
Tabasco sauce on it. And then you take bigger and
bigger bikes.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
You know, it's really extraordinary how that grew and maybe
grew probably quicker than you expected, especially with a national brand.
I do want to ask you about the business side
again about that, because I think there's a lesson and
you and I probably experienced several times during our lives, Marguerite,
about be careful what you wish for. It's me and
maybe a big job in a large market in the
(19:46):
industry I am, and with you. We're into whole foods,
and now all of a sudden, we're into a lot
of whole foods, which means there's going to be demand
on your product, which you have to step up and
provide that. So, with all that said, as everything was
moving quickly as you were getting in now to multiple
whole foods, What did you do behind the scenes to
make sure that you would add enough product to give everybody,
(20:08):
to make sure that machine could keep on going, that
you could service everybody.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So it's a bit of a nag and chicken issue, right.
You need the sales to grow and get the money
to grow, but you need to have the operations to
actually fulfill the sales, need to pay for set operations.
This visual circle, right, And my approach honestly has been, okay,
can we get the sale. Once we get the sale,
(20:35):
then quickly scramble go back to or you have a plant,
what is it that you're needing place to then deliver
that sale and then make it happen because you can say,
for instance, one of the biggest limitations is capital. But
once you have that relationship and you can show the bank,
for example, or an investor this is actually happening, it's
much more likely you'll be successful, as say, increasing your
(20:56):
line of credit. So it's the first time we do
it the other way around. That's sort of how it
worked for the last seven years. And also, by the way,
you've got to be creative. You have limited resources, and
it can be very expensive, especially production in food once
you get to a certain level. Because we were able
to do things with a teeny tiny set of molds,
(21:21):
little plastic molds and you know, just the pod on
our stovetop, but that you can make a few dozen
in panelas that way, it's very different to make hundreds
to make thousand of them, right, and also from a
regulatory perspective, what you need in order to do so,
And so it was a little bit of learn as
you go, trial and error. Does this make sense? Does
this work? No? Step back, try a different path. And
(21:44):
so we used to have to get our line guy
with poxicle sticks and inductive to be honest at the beginning.
There's tons of very manual aspects that we still do.
But now finally we have the volume the sales to
now go the other way around on what happens is
we have a larger space, larger machinery, more efficient line
(22:05):
that then we can grow into and grow with. So
we just inaugurated this past friday our new plant in Rockfille, Maryland.
Congratulations and it's thank you, incredibly exciting. It's twice the
size of our current space of twelve thousand square feet
and has actual real machinery, and it's an actual full
(22:26):
line and in a straight line. Now there's different rooms,
a little curves and turns, but something that is an
actual industrial line. And we're so excited because it will
makes such a big difference and for the first time
we have a space that can make more impanutus than
we're selling currently. So I'm hoping now we'll have an
easier time actually bringing into sales and not having to
(22:48):
scramble be right then get what we need in order
to deliver.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Probably a good problem to have it, I can tell
your Jeff about it. So congratulations. Is this wonderful, this
growth of the company and where you started from so
small and now so low. Arge. I did want to
put a pin in the business for a little bit,
because it sounds like we talked about a little bit
earlier that you're all about, you know, paying it forward
and when it comes to fillingthroperty or any kind of
charity work that you like to be a part of,
(23:13):
whether it's with the company or maybe with the family,
what do you like to be a part of when
it comes to charitable causes.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Anything that can make long term impact. I think it's
what makes most sense because I certainly say providing a
meal helps for that day or for that time of
the day. Right, providing a few like a grocery run
can maybe get a family going for a week, But
(23:41):
what can you do that helps people long term, something
that won't only impact themselves as an individual, but their
families and their communities. So for me, any kind of
approach that can do this, I think is the way
to go. It can be from the education perspective, right,
(24:03):
either learn a new trade that you can make a
career off and earned enough to support yourself and your family,
or from the education perspective, say, opportunities for children to
access better education and then have better futures. Those are
the types of endeavors I like to get involved with.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Well, let's do this. I've really enjoyed this conversation, but
I want to get some closing thoughts from you. And
I could talk about ampanadas all day because I love them,
and when I started eating them when I lived in
New Mexico, they were okay. But I've run into a
lot of people that are from your original country in Columbia,
and there's something about Colombians and ampanadas that are just
out of this world or out of this world. Margerita
(24:44):
so and I've tried yours by the way too. No endorsement.
I've done them on my own and they're wonderful and
I highly recommend them everybody. But I do want to
get some final thoughts to our leaders out there. We
have current CEOs and founders and also future entrepreneurs that
are listening to this program and really enjoy it. Is
so incredible of coming from another country and the American dream,
and you did it from a very small, tiny catering
(25:06):
company to this large machine that you have now of
a wonderful product that's so many people are enjoying. To
some final thoughts about the company, starting the company, and
maybe just some words of advice for some of those
entrepreneurs out there.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I have to say this has been the most fulfilling
thing I've done in my life. It's certainly a challenge.
Every single day there's some sort of curveball you did
not anticipate, and honestly, within the same day you go
from taking over the world two we might be going bankrupt.
(25:38):
It's tough, but nothing worth in life. It's not gonna
have that cost in sweat, tears, and maybe a little
bit of blood. And I think it requires being maybe
a little bit of an adrenaline addict, maybe a little
bit of a masochist. But you have to enjoy every
(25:58):
step of it and enjoy the process versus just focusing
on the goal, and that allows you to be adaptable.
I think that's key to success, to always keep your
eyes open for opportunities and judge those opportunities based on data.
That would be my biggest advice to people to try
to take as much as an objective perspective and test
(26:22):
your ideas with actual data. Take small steps so that
if you trip and fall, you don't fall too far.
And do those as much as you can early on.
Go crazy, early on, make all those mistakes because you
can learn so much from them and they don't cost
as much as if you make them later when you're better.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
All right, let's give the website to everybody out there
so they can check out all the different choices and
the products and all the cool things that you have
to offer. What's that website for everybody?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Of course, at www dot mass bananas dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
All right, well, listen, you know I have so many
takeaways from our wonderful conversation. I appreciate your time. But
the one thing that I always get back from people
that are successful after all their hard work and their
journey that you had talked about today, is their passion
for the business. And I can tell that you have that,
and I think that's extraordinary. I don't know if you
know that, but you know in our short conversation it
(27:16):
comes through loud and clear over the speaker to me
in my ear that you are passionate about what you
do and the love that you put into this with
your family. So listen. Congratulations so far. Congratulations on the
new rock Fille plant that you have. I think that's
wonderful news. And the growth of the company and continue success.
We really appreciate you joining us on CEOs. You should know, Margarita, well,
thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs, you
should know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our community succeed well.
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