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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Wh0 Afia Foods and Cocina54 are
• Bringing diverse cultural flavors to Texas
• The Chobani Incubator program

On this episode of the food podcast, Packing Taste, Axel sits down with Farrah Moussallati and Cecilia Panichelli of Afia Foods and Cocina54, respectively. Afia Foods is a better-for-you Mediterranean food brand and Cocina54 is an on-to-go healthy empanada company. They’re bringing new flavors to Texans in the form of convenient and healthy frozen food.

Not only did Cecilia begin Afia Foods to fill a gap in the market, but also to share the food she loves and to help Austin’s refugee population. She thought that if she could start a successful business not only could she expose more people to authentic Mediterranean food, make it readily available to consumers, and create a great working environment for refugees. Farrah’s story is similar in wanting to share food with more people. She and her husband always wanted to start a business together and their research led them to the discovery that consumers were looking for healthy and convenient options for on-the-go eating as well as authentic ethnic foods. They realized their empanadas hit all the marks.

They believe that one reason for their success is that consumers want variety in their foods, and the diversity in Austin leads to people excited to try all these different foods from different cultures. As consumers are wanting to add new things to their diet, they’re also wanting to eat cleaner healthier meals, but they do not always have the time or money to go to restaurants to do so. This desire is met by their convenient, frozen, diverse products that can be heated up and consumed on the go.

To hear more from Farrah and Cecilia on their stories and businesses, tune into the seventh installment of Packing Taste. If you enjoy the episode, be sure to share it with friends and colleagues! You can listen to more Packing Taste here.

Host: Axel Brave

Guests: Farrah Moussallati & Cecilia Panichelli

 

Transcript:

This is a founding media podcast.

Welcome into the packing taste podcast. I’m your host axle buffet. Today. We’re sitting down with two upcoming packaged food industry leaders, far Musa Lahti and Cecilia Chile, far as the co-founder of OFA foods. A better for you Mediterranean food brand and Cecilia is the co-founder of Cassina 54. And on the go healthy empanada company.

The two of them are bringing their diverse cultural flavors to Texas consumers in the frozen food aisle. We talked about how they educate consumers, who haven’t heard of their foreign flavors, what advice they would pass on to new entrepreneurs and what they wish they knew when they started. Let’s jump into, hear more from Farah and Cecelia.

Hello everybody. This is Axel Brava, the host of packing taste. I’m glad everyone is tuning in today because we have two wonderful guests, FARA and Cecelia punny. Shelly fire runs off your foods out of Austin, Texas, and Cecelia runs casino 54. Out of Austin, Texas as well. So we’re, we’re solely focused today and the capital of our beautiful state and FARA what she does.

And she’ll talk more about it, but essentially it’s frozen Mediterranean food, very delicious. And Cecilia does frozen empanadas, which is an Arjun tine. Um, Part of the Argentine cuisine frozen as well. And they’ll talk a little bit more about that, but thank you ladies for coming in in the show today.

Thank you for having, I’ve been very excited. I’ve wanted to have y’all on for a while because. As I was saying before we started recording the amount of ethnic food and the diversity of food in Texas is growing so much. And you guys are a great example of that, um, with the Mediterranean cuisine and the Argentine cuisine.

So thank you for, for sharing the love and the passion of food with us Texans. Um, I guess where we can start, I think it’d be awesome for you guys to tell us your story about where you’re from. Exactly. So our listeners can understand where these foods are coming from. And when did you guys move to Austin?

Texas. I don’t know who wants to take the lead, but okay. Martin, you go for it. Okay, I’ll go. Hi everyone. I’m Cecilia bunny tele. Um, I was actually born in Mendoza wine country of Argentina, but lived all my life in winter Cyrus. Argentina until I was, um, 21 and came to UT to do an exchange program there, uh, yellow Longhorns Lego Longhorns.

So I, um, I came here, I met my husband, who is the co founder of Cassina 54. And we settle in, in beautiful Austin. Uh, but growing up, we, we always ate empanada. So we, we loved empanadas. They were part of every baptism, birthday parties. Um, so, uh, when we came to the States, we, we found that we couldn’t find empanadas, uh, that were like good and that we really liked.

Um, so we used to make them ourselves and, um, and now our friends love them. Uh, everyone was like, Please get me some empanadas. I will always take them to the office. And so that’s why we basically started the company two years ago. Thanks empanadas. I, again, I, my parents are from Argentina, so I. Grew up with the empanadas, but you’re right there.

They were very difficult to find for awhile and we could only find them in like little coffee shops. Yeah, yeah. Coffee shops or sometimes restaurants or our foot track here and there. But you didn’t have that convenience of like going to the grocery store, doing that trip and like making sure that you can grab some good bananas to have them in the freezer ready for a busy weeknight dinner.

There you go and fire you. Where, where, where do you hell from? So I am originally from Syria, uh, born and bred in England. So I lived all my life there in 2012. I married my husband. Yes. Seen and moved over with my daughter to Austin, Texas, to travel to continents for, for Loveless. Um, and when I first moved here, I mean, although England and the States, you know, we speak the same language, but things are very different.

So for the first few years, um, you know, I just had to adapt and assimilate myself to certain different things. Um, and during that time I spent a lot of it helping, helping, um, you know, Uh, struggling refugees. Cause that was a huge influx of them coming into Austin. At the same time, my mother-in-law fled the war in Syria.

Um, and along with her, she bought this black recipe book and it’s just filled with recipes, handed down from generations generation, like pure authenticity. So lucky for me, she moved in with us and she would cook this amazing food every single night and my kids absolutely loved it. Um, and then, um, I would just look around and I just would not see.

This Mediterranean slash middle Eastern, you know, the whole Ivanti area. I wouldn’t see any of this food in the freezer section and outside. Yeah. It’s a huge growing, you know, food Mediterranean food, but it’s just not readily available for consumers. So, you know, pairing that up with, um, you know, starting a business, having this asset in my hand, which was this black recipe book filled with recipes, um, and wanting to actually run my own business.

Um, and help refugees. So I put those two together and you know, we’re out there. We, we, we provided Mediterranean food to the kids. Yeah. And before, before the empanadas and before the Mediterranean food, when you guys got here and realized, Oh, some of my favorite foods aren’t readily available, what were some of your favorite foods?

Immediately when you got your or they the tacos, or was it the barbecue? Do you remember like a certain food you had, like the first year you were here? The first thing that Mexican food I wasn’t too used to cause we just don’t have any number. It was, it was the barbecue. It was here. That is just what I fell in love with.

And I loved, um, obviously now I’ve gotten use of the tacos, but it was the barbecue, the sauce, too. Everything about the sauce, the actual meat, everything was just. Fantastic. I still love it till now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. For me it was the same thing. Ah, actually, I, I, I, when I, my first job here, I was at Stubb’s barbecue.

I was their marketing manager for six years. Uh, so like I love, like I got like very deep and, uh, introduced to a good barbecue. And so, um, yeah, barbecue was just like the thing that the ribs were, everything, the brisket, like the, just the smoke brisket is just amazing. Like, cause we, we all eat meat in our and our cultures.

Right. But the barbecue was totally different than what we were used to. Did that startle you at first? Or it was like, no, this is too weird. I don’t, I’m not going to think about it too much. Um, yeah. I mean, it’s different to how we meet. We’ll usually have it like as a kebab or yeah, on it. On a grill. Yeah.

Over the fire, over the smoke. So it was, it was, it was a different taste. But it wasn’t something that, you know, I just couldn’t adapt to absolutely loved it. My family even came over from England and they’re just like, you know, we want barbecue. Just take us to barbecue. Yeah. Yeah. No, for me it was just like incredible, like, yes, it is completely differentially open flame that you will find in Argentina, the type of barbecue, they are.

Salaries is very different, but, um, it’s really the, the flavors that you can have, like with a good. Small brisket. Uh, and there are so many talented, like people that can do that here, that it was amazed to be some ranch in com. Yeah. And when, um, I guess growing up or when you were here cooking, we can consider cooking pretty big and both of our cultures and the Syrian culture and the Argentine culture.

How’d you guys learn how to cook, who taught you how to make them? Who taught you how to make Keva? Was it your mother or your father? Yeah, so my mom, uh, obviously like, well, not always there, but, um, my mom, uh, yes, she, she was the one that taught us. She absolutely loves cooking and loves every cuisine out there.

Uh, she, um, she just like is one person that will do like. Bias trainings because she just was very much into spices. So, uh, growing up, we, we have the fortune that she didn’t have to work for 10 years. So growing up, she was in the kitchen a lot till, till we went into middle school and then she started having a job outside of the house too, but, uh, she just loved cooking and I think that was, uh, an incredible part.

And then, um, my, my grandparents. To both of, um, both, both sides. I have any Italian side and a Spanish side, so I have a lot of different, uh, a very big mix of, uh, different cuisines from my, um, my, one of my grandmothers making pasta from scratch. And he’s like just the best fresh pasta that you will have I’ve ever in your life.

And would she bring it? Would she say like Sudan, come on, come, come help me cook. And there was like no pasta machine or anything. She will just. Cut the pasta with a knife and that was it. And, uh, she will have like everyone on a Sunday on the volunteers was just perfect. And I think that, uh, that love was incredible on my, on my, the Spanish, um, my Spanish family.

Uh, my, my grandfather will wake up at six o’clock in the morning and I S. And asked my grandmother, what are we cooking? Go to their, um, fruit and veggie market and grab like the freshest ingredients they live in the country. So they just grabbed the freshest ingredients and we will have like lots of different flavors.

Um, he might grill some food. Um, my, my grandma will just make like, with, um, vegetables. Uh, she will make pasta too. So, uh, it was incredible. Just both of them will, uh, both of my grandmothers and my mom, they were always very much into food and, and taught me like the love of, for cooking and for bringing like great flavors to the table.

And, and what was like that honor of serving those foods to your family. And it was that. Similar with you, right. Was it mainly the women and the family that taught you how to cook? Yeah, definitely, definitely be it like on my side, be it, my mom be it, my grandma. I mean, they, you know, they just, they would make everything just like Celia.

They would make everything from scratch. Um, you know, whether it was in Syria, whether it was in England, um, and just seeing them prepare things from scratch and just. They put love and time into these meals that they prepare for us. Um, so I would watch them a lot, um, and I would see their techniques. And then when, obviously my mother-in-law came, the love that she put into her food.

It’s something that I would have cooked in half an hour. She would spend an hour and a half there, you know? Putting that extra love into it, putting that extra soul into it. It was just like, this is amazing. And would she also bring you in like, Hey, come help me cook, come cut this onion. She’d definitely give me the onions.

I was always stuck with the dishes and for awhile, I was like, Oh yeah. So in my family, my, my mother is an excellent cook as well, but my father and I were the ones who cook a lot. And when I was young, it’d be like, X look, mom, we’re going to do an, a salvo, or we’re going to do a pasta or we’re going to do this or that.

And I was so excited. I’m like, okay, what do you want me to chop? What do you want me to do? He’s like, No, no. What can you wash that dish or that we just finished wash it and then, okay, well, can I, can I stir this? No, no, you need to, you need to watch the cutting board cooking is about keeping everything clean.

It’s like, I need to always tell me a great chef cleans up after themselves. And I would be the one always clean after him. But no, he he’s. He’s the one who I think taught me most of what I know when it comes to cooking. It wasn’t really my mother. My mother was like good at five different dishes, some lentils, some pasta.

But, um, it definitely, I think we’re talking about the same feeling here when we would watch our parents cook. And I’m I hearing you guys say that and you guys have kids, I’m thinking like, how am I going to do that with my kids? Like. Should I do what my dad did and just make them do the dishes or should I let them cut the idea?

Wow. I, I like, um, I at home, for example, like I have two kids, so my 11 year old is actually, she loves to bake. She has watched every baking show. Uh, and, uh, and so like, I’ll just lead care, have the kitchen and, and it’s just fun to just. See here experiment and make mistakes. And I’m like, ah, did you put like that?

I like one and a half cup of flour, just half cup of flour. So, uh, but yes, there is a very important part of like, okay. Their rule number. They know the rule for being able to use the kitchen. Is that. You get a little bit better than what you found it. Okay. So my dad, wasn’t lying. That’s rule number one, he loves to cook and I’m like, go for it.

But the kitchen needs to be, or like better than what you find. Do your children live to cook? I got the, my four girls. Out of them, two of them do, one of them really likes the sweet side of stuff and the other one actually just likes to do anything. Um, so they will also experiment, um, they will experiment with different things.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be, you know, like, you know, Syrian food or anything. Um, but yes, they do have to clean up after themselves. Um, they do make mistakes, but it’s absolutely great. It’s, it’s, it’s, I just believe leaving them to their own devices and letting them learn, you know, through cooking and learn through their mistakes is just.

Yeah, yeah. Without a doubt. Um, okay. So kind of to get into, get into the brand talk now. Um, why, so, so obviously you guys grew up cooking, uh, your parents taught you how to cook or you got to see it and witness it. You saw that it brought the family together. You guys wanted to bring some of that here, but why did you guys have one certain drive that made you want to share your cuisine with.

The Austin community or the Texas community. Was it like we don’t, I guess you already answered this, you said they didn’t have any Mediterranean food here that was readily available and they didn’t have any Arjun tine empanadas here that were readily available. And was that kind of what, jump-started this like, Oh, I’m going to take advantage of this gap or was it.

I just want to share this awesome food with everybody. Cause it’s like, there’s no way people shouldn’t know about this. So I think for me, um, there was a mixture of several things. It was, um, it was this amazing food that really needed to be shared. Like whenever there was a gathering or anything, my mother-in-law a party would get together.

My mother-in-law was always asked to make certain dishes. Um, so it was definitely wanting to share this food. Um, it was definitely. Um, the, uh, one of the missions behind AFI foods, which is to, you know, help support these refugees. And I thought, you know, if I start a business and a successful, I can bring them in and they’d be, you know, part of this great working here.

So it was a great food. It was a mission and yes, there was a gap in the market. There wasn’t any of this great food readily available for consumers. Um, so. You know, those three together for me were definitely, you know, push for me to start off your foods. Yeah. So for, for us was, um, kind of a couple of different things.

One was that, uh, we laughed Federico. Now we wanted to start a company together after Rico has always been the entrepreneur in the family. And I always been in the CPG industry. Through working for, for other companies. And we, we decided that we wanted to jump, uh, together in, in, in a new venture. And so we started thinking, what, what can we do together?

And, um, food was obviously, it was like the number one thing. We knew it was going to be food because of my background. And, um, and so we were like, eh, Uh, everyone really like is driving about empanadas. And so we, we did a lot of research. Uh, we didn’t jump into it like right away. Um, we did a lot of research.

I am like, uh, I love doing research sometimes too much. Uh, but we looked at and we looked at the consumers and, uh, because obviously like our friends love them. Everyone was craving for asking this. To make some, but, uh, but also we looked at what the consumer was looking and, and we look at the American consumer and we saw that they were looking for better for you products.

Um, meaning like non GMO’s, meaning fresh ingredients, meaning gluten free, but they are not willing to sacrifice, taste or convenience. They were looking for us something that will fit their busy lifestyle. So some like grab and go product that they can go and take to the office. And then in banana was just that perfect thing.

And then they were also looking for. Ethnic authentic foods. And so we were like, well, check, check, check. Like we have a product that is made with fresh vegetables with, we are one of the few, uh, empanadas that actually have a lot of fresh vegetables, uh, in a, uh, as a feeling, uh, we also have like, it’s a gluten free, um, It’s portable.

It’s already pre-baked, it’s not fried. And, and also it’s authentic. We, we grew up with this culture. Uh, I’m not going to claim and panelist as Argentinians because the whole Latin America

we basically saw those three things are coming alive and we were like, let’s, let’s make them finesse. Yeah. And you, I guess. Yeah. I love, I love asking that question cause it’s never one answer. Oh, I did this because of that. It’s like, no, it was a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Um, but the, I guess the importance of cooking and the power of sharing food, that was, that was the way you wanted to help refugees.

And that was the way that you wanted what you wanted to start a business with with fit for the, for the, to go and, um, Cooking or food was the way that was the outlet, right? Yeah. I don’t know. I find that interesting being in Austin. It’s not like let’s make an app together to save the refugees or something.

It was food. Do you think, do you think, um, you can no, no, no. You’re good. You’re good. Um, Why do you think food has so much power? Or why do you think it’s it’s? Uh, is it just us that think that or part of our lives, like you it’s part of our life it’s, it’s our heritage it’s the flavors is just like, those smells that you walk into, like your grandmother’s.

Kitchen and you just smell that and you, he just transports you. And so I think just like music has an effect on how you feel and makes you feel good. Uh, food has that same effect. Yeah. Yeah, I think, um, uh, just food is, is our universal common ground, no matter where you’re from, you know, what you look like, you believe in what you believe in is food brings everybody together, you know?

Um, so I just think food has. So much strength in bringing cultures and people together and, you know, bringing joy and love to the table. So I do believe in isn’t in its importance. Yeah. Yeah. It was actually funny because a couple of months ago we had dinner with our families together, foreign and now our family.

And so we brought some Argentina and they served. And, and she fed her my terrainian food to my kids and my kids. Weren’t like crazy about her food and her kids went crazy about it. And so it’s just at the time, obviously I made those kids on the map and we made ’em at the time that it was, was a stuffed by leaves.

The like the dolmas I don’t remember, but the whole, this incredible, like we made like a keypad and a salad. Yeah. I can fit to the keepers, my kids, like I had to keep going to HEB and grabbing some bags because they love it. And, and we make, um, for the cert we make these, um, caramel coconut pie.

Next time you guys need to bring some of that here. Um, why do you think, obviously with these, the foods you guys are making, what do you think people are so willing to try new foods? Usually I always had an impression that people are consumers are like, I’m just going to eat what I know, because that’s what I know.

But it seems that there’s a lot of consumers, especially today that are willing to try these new foods. Why, why do you think. That’s the case. I think they, um, I think that wanting to taste you food, um, I think they are, you know, there’s only so much of a routine type of food that you can eat and then they’re wanting that variety.

So ethnic food brings in that variety. Um, the fact that, you know, obviously our foods are kind of like they’re clean, you know, that they’re all natural. And so that’s a bonus for the consumer, but, um, I just think, you know, Austin is there’s a lot of cultures it’s very diverse and people are wanting to try all these different foods.

Um, that, that, that’s how I see it. Yeah. I think that we have, we have a new consumer that it has, like, it has to evolve a lot. Uh, Betsy and, and Coke. They used to have like one, two, like regular Pepsi, diet Pepsi, and now they have to had opened their portfolio too. So many different flavors and textures and, and ways to deliver what the consumer is looking for.

And it’s the same for foods all around the consumer is, is it’s willing to explore is it’s really looking for something different. Um, and, uh, and they get it from the restaurant, but then when they are at home, sometimes they, they feel like either because of. Time or, or, or because they just don’t know how to make making, keep it so random banana it’s, it’s not only C thing.

I, it has, uh, it’s complicated to make. So, um, I think that it has its challenges. So I think that, um, consumers just love having those, those flavors available now. Yeah. Because the foods you guys make, what if you’d make them traditionally at home, I would take a couple of hours to make, to feed your family, which is 12 people, 15 people that are coming over.

But now with the products you guys make, you throw it in the microwave and the oven. And you can take it, eat it in the car. Yeah. Super easy. Very easy. Yeah. So it’s like, yeah, people are willing to try new foods, but they have a lot of restrictions, like they need and needs to be gluten-free and it needs to be ready in five minutes.

what do you think? Um, And we’ll get into this super branding part here in a second, but what do you think the fact that you’re super busy this morning? No worries. No worries. Um, what, um, how do you guys feel about, you know, having learned how to cook this stuff traditionally? Doing it for an hour or two hours with the family to now making a product that is ready in five minutes.

Is there some conflict there or you’re like, no, this is, this is the right translation that I wanted to do for the American consumer or for the Texas consumer. Yeah, I can, I can speak a little bit. So, uh, the story of my grandmother and my grandfather will wake up early, go to the market. That’s not my story.

Like that’s not my life. Like I went to school and I worked, uh, I started working in, in different companies and I will work nine to five or even more hours. Uh, I had my daughter, so th the routine, there is no. Time to spend that time during the week. Like we actually, during the weekend, we did take time to, to cook and, and share those flavors.

But during the week it’s very challenging. So, uh, I, I go to the freezer Island and grab that like frozen rice or the keepers or the empanadas, because they allow me to do other things with my kids that now I can’t. So we do have an awesome breakfast on Sundays. Uh, we, we do have like made from. bits maybe on Saturday, but, uh, during the week it is challenging.

I need to have like an empanada, like yesterday was like, going into the lunchboxes and that, and it’s like the empanadas that I just take from the freezer aisle. So, uh, I think we, we need to resource to like some good food that it’s made from scratch still, but it’s just frozen ready, available for us.

Yeah. I, I doubled down on that. I mean, I just think the majority of the people that I know, we, we all live, you know, busy lifestyles, everything has become fast paced. So you know, me having four kids and, you know, you having to, so you need that convenience food in the freezer, but obviously good convenience food for when you’re in a hurry or for when you don’t have time.

Yeah, working in and the kids coming back from school. I mean, my kids at this point, they, I always have food in the freezer ready for them. They just open the freezer. If I’ve not had the chance to prepare anything. And my mother-in-law hasn’t and they will just go and heat it up. And I just think that that has become kind of like a staple throughout a lot of the households.

I know. Yeah. And it’s, I think it’s great to have healthy options and especially even better to have delicious slopes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think that like, food that you can trust is what you’re looking for and like products that don’t have fillers. And, and obviously we looked, we looked, make sure that that’s what we have available for, for our families.

Yeah. Okay. So the, like I said earlier, one of the reasons, reasons I wanted to have y’all on is because you guys have these ethnic brands translating it to for the Texas consumer American consumer. My main question for you guys is what are some strategies? Or what do you think is the best way to educate the consumer and say, Hey, this isn’t barbecue.

These aren’t tacos, these are bananas from South America, or, you know, um, these are, these are some Cuba, or this is Cuba from, uh, from the Mediterranean region. How do you educate the consumer? How do you, because I think we all have the same barrier here with our brands is we, this is from our home country.

This is what I’ve made all my life, but this hasn’t been here. Or if it has it, hasn’t been super present. How do you guys get over that barrier? I think for me, I’m going to bring up back to how I started, um, my, my biggest and my biggest help in educating the consumer was actually starting out really small.

So I started out in the Texas farmer’s market. Um, and for me that was. Fantastic. Um, it actually gave me insight as to how to educate my consumer, you know, what is it that I was telling them initially that really didn’t work in them. What did work? So, you know, when I first started out, I was like, this is good.

And I wouldn’t really explain it. And they were like, well, what is that? Okay, well, it’s like, And I would explain the ingredients it’s, you know, crunchy shell stuff to beat. And they were like, Oh, well, it’s like a stuffed meatballs. So my consumers were actually telling me, you know, Oh, so it’s like a stuff meat.

Well, Oh, so it’s like a hush puppy or a stuffed dumpling. So I learned a lot from my consumer starts, not at Texas farmer’s market, um, which is a great place I would, you know, for a small company, that’s trying to educate consumers. That was great for me. And then obviously the small wheat smells and, and.

Farmhouse deliveries. They were a great start and I’m just getting the product in somebody’s mouth and explaining it to them. Um, that, that was, you know, that was what we had to do. Falafel wasn’t too much of an issue for us because it is very mainstream. A lot of people know falafel. Um, but they give, but there was a lot of education there and the consumers actually taught me how to educate them.

They, they, they told me it’s like a stuffed meatball. So you didn’t rename your pet products on there. I haven’t now I have it as a beef croquette on my packaging, just because, you know, if somebody was to read Kibera, they would need to know kind of what it is and what a lot of people were saying was a beef crooked or a stuffed maple.

So do you think, do you think naming the name of the product was super important? Um, like you said, kibbeh, but I think the first time we met you were telling me exactly this. Well, we learn to include the word jalapeno in one of our products because peop people in Texas really know jalapeno. Right. So one of, and it’s funny, I think my favorite product that you make is the jalapeno one.

Yeah. The Texas style. And. Whatever when, whenever it texts and sees the word Texas, it’s like, Oh, I know what that is. Do you think that helped? Um, for my KP, um, I mean, I did learn that Texans absolutely love spy. So, um, we took our traditional Kibera and authentic one and we actually provided the Texans with what they wanted, the spicy one.

So having texts and style and jalapeno in there, it did. I mean, they loved it. It made a difference. It was an ingredient in there that they knew. That they loved. Um, so for that one, there wasn’t too much of an education as much as the original KIPP. Um, but definitely the jalapeno one is, is a huge hair hair.

Yeah. Yeah. And do you think, do you think when you talked to people about it and does it help to pair it with other foods that. American consumers know like, Oh, try the empanada with a sauce. People make here. Yeah. For us. Uh, we, we did, uh, we launched at HEB. Um, so we, the, we do a lot of things. Demos in store.

They most are what we know that 60% of consumers know what an empanada is. Some 40% still don’t know when they smile say it. And they are like, Oh, it’s a meat pie, or it’s a turnover. So, um, so we are educating then, uh, we are just telling them what it is. Um, but we also the, what far as like, um, we brought the product, we have our traditional beef that is actually our bestseller, but then we also brought, uh, uh, we added one with jalapenos and so we use fresh jalapenos in there and it’s just tastes incredible.

And it’s just. By sea. And he’s doing amazing here in Texas, because that’s what the consumer wants here. And so, uh, you have to bring your food, you have to bring your culture. Uh, but also you have to be sensitive of what the consumer is looking here and what do they appreciate? And so the same with our salsas or, or dips like we in Argentina, that’s not a big thing.

We do have two Maturi, but we don’t use that for empanadas here. Everyone needs to deep, like. And so like, that’s, that’s great. Like that’s what consumers are doing here. They’re like, ah, I use it with like a, I put it in my fryer and then I used to care. So, and I used it with this creamy avocado dip, or I use it with a chimichurri sauce, so it’s fine.

Like, we want to bring it closer to you. We don’t want to impose like, Oh, this is the food that we have on the not to be like, strict about that. Yeah, exactly. Like. And cause you want to stay true and authentic to what you’re doing, but you don’t want to exclude people. So you, you allow them to dip their banana in the chimichurri and you allow them to put the hot sauce and yeah.

Yeah. Funny, you bring that up because I’ve been transformed into. Eating my empanadas with Jimmy children and with the, yeah, it’s amazing. And with the kibbeh I was putting siestas, habanero, hot sauce all over it and just like, it was so good. That’s what I had for breakfast a couple of days, days ago was it was definitely good, but it’s, I think it’s easier for consumers.

To understand what your product is when they mix it with something they already know. Right. Does that, do you see a lot of it? I mean, um, for me, yes, a lot of my consumers, they will mix it. They will dip it into a ranch. Um, a lot of them actually, they dip it in hummus, which actually goes. Great without product.

So, because Hamas is a deepest dive, very mainstream, and everybody knows it. They will use that as an option, but a lot of them, they just like it with their ranch and they’re like, it would be cheesy sauce. And, yeah. And it’s funny if you take that back home to Syria or Tara and Tina, the Argentines and the Syrians would be like, what are you doing?

Stop still playing with your food. I think it is a little bit like Mexican food and TexMex. Yeah, but if you go to Argentina, you are going to have sushi in Argentina is going to be different than the sushi from Japan. So it was just different. Like we, we adapt the food and, and we make like, changes that we think that, um, are going to be good for the consumer.

Yeah. And what, um, do you guys do a lot of social media? Does that also help? Is that a good way to show people. Um, recipes and how to like prepare your food and pair it with other foods. So we are a small, very, very, very small company. It’s just two people in a couple of part-timers. So, uh, we, we do it all ourselves.

So I think social media, it’s a great way to communicate. Um, but, um, but it’s also a very expensive thing. So, um, right now we, we do have a lot of demos. We have a lot of word of mouth, uh, just consumers loving the product and telling friends and sharing that. And to us, that’s the most powerful brand ambassador that we will ever have.

Um, and so social media, yes. But like, There is a lot of information there. So from there going all the way to their consumer and that consumer remembering the product that they just saw on Facebook and then going to the supermarket and finding that supermarket in the freezer aisle, um, it it’s, it’s, there’s a lot of steps in between.

Yeah. Do you think, yeah, no, I, I do believe social media is important. Um, but there are lots of challenges and it is very difficult, but double down on what Cecilia said. It’s the consumer. It’s the word of mouth. Yeah. And do you think, do you think, uh, specifically with ethnic food brands, the best way to convince the consumer to buy it or try it is word of mouth being in front of them, do you think that’s more powerful than social media or email blast?

Definitely. Yeah. Demos. Yeah. They, they really don’t care. How do you call them? We send empanada and. I thought there was a meat pie, but they tasted and they are like, wow, like, how is this possible? Like, and they are like, I mean, the frozen aisle, like this tastes so fresh. And we’re like, well, we use like raw spinach when we make our empanada.

So you’re going to taste that and you use like, like fresh Anya’s French jalapenos. And so you, you can taste those flavors and the minute someone tastes it, they really don’t care how they, you call them. Educating them there. Do you think, do you think it’s a trust thing? It’s if somebody has never tried this before and they’re going to try it for the first time, they rather have a real life person talk to them about it versus a 32nd ad on Facebook, I think.

Yeah, definitely more trusting steal people. And, and this smells like you’re cooking in this supermarket and they just smell that and then they’d just come by and they try it. And, um, yes. Yeah. I don’t know why I always ask surprise when people tell me that the demos being in front of the customer. Yeah.

I guess like as entrepreneurs we get lost in testing all the channels people are telling us, you gotta be on Instagram. You gotta be on YouTube. You gotta be doing this. You gotta go the show. It’s like, well, I think, I think I’m just going to stand in front of the customer and talk to them. That’s the best way to.

Been the best for us to be on it. Yeah, definitely. It’s a lot of work. Like you have like a weekends, like Saturdays and Sundays, we cross each other at the supermarket, but it is, it is what really their consumer, um, sees you’re there and they find your product right there. So it’s, it’s what. That’s awesome.

That’s awesome. We’re talking about this. I’m writing an article exactly about, um, on the field hustle. So I’m going to quote all this. You guys are ever writing my article for me. Um, okay. And obviously being in the great state of Texas, what have, what have been some awesome support systems that you guys.

I have seen here that have helped your brand, um, get in front of consumers or support systems that have helped your brand, um, tell its story to the consumers so they can relate to it. Yeah. Um, in, in Austin, like you have like amazing blue places, like skew, for example, that is like a business accelerator here.

And we were part of their truck number five and it really helped us, um, like. Accelerate our business and get we’ll be ready when we launch at HEB. Um, so I think that’s like the number one thing Austin has. So like, it’s just like a hot bed for like CBG brands. It’s amazing. Like how many CBG brands are here to run it, but it’s amazing.

It’s incredible because you, you do have all this support, uh, uh, from other entrepreneurs. And so that’s. That’s also, that’s also part of the journey and just being able to share that. And, uh, if not, it’s a lonely journey, if you don’t have people around you. And so I think that what we have found is that, uh, being in Austin, it’s incredible because of that, because you have, uh, you have like, At least what I, I always lived here in Austin, so I don’t know how it is in, in like in different parts of the country, but what we always hear is like, everyone in Austin is so open to share it.

So open to just like give back. And, um, at least that has been my experience with like, um, mentors and, and, and other entrepreneurs that are just there. And we are. Setting up with like products are for one retailer and we’re just sharing, how, how are you doing this? Because if not, it gets lonely. Yeah. Yeah.

I agree. I didn’t get the, you know, the, the greatest support here in Austin is the people. You know, and I would say throughout the whole of Texas as well, I mean, everybody just, you know, they’re, they’re a shoulder for you to lean on, um, great support system. They want local to succeed. Um, so I, I just think all the other entrepreneurs out there and CPGs, you know, you have a question, you pick up the phone, you can ask anybody in, anybody’s going to give you the answer that you need.

And one more thing. I think HEB quest for Texas West has like a big part of that because it gives us a brands like an amazing opportunity to is showcase and to be part of these, uh, this experience we did it two years ago. We were one of their finalists. And it’s incredible to, to have like a retailer, like ATB that is just there to help you and to support you.

And I think that has made a tremendous difference for the brands in Texas, uh, that they have, uh, ATV that it’s there. And like you can participate on their, uh, contest. You can become a finalist, you get a chance to sit down with the buyers and bring your product to life and partner with them. Um, so I think that’s.

That’s that’s very incredible that they are bringing that flavor diversity into their stores and supporting local pride. Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. Because it’s very, I haven’t heard the story yet that says, no, so-and-so didn’t want to help me or these people were being mean and data, everyone that’s been on the show, everyone who I’ve talked to in the last three years since I’ve started my own brand.

Everyone has been super helpful here. I haven’t heard a single story of like, no, nobody wanted to help me talk, introduce me to the Spire. Um, and I think that’s why we’re becoming such a powerhouse in the CPG it’s because everyone is helping one another. It’s like, Oh, they need some help. Oh, they need some help.

I, um, I’m staying with a friend of mine who was kind of complaining. He’s like, man, I go to every bar now and. He’s a Topo, Chico fanatic. He has AIDS cases. He’s like, I go to every bar now and there’s no more Topo. Chico. There’s only Richards rainwater who has been on the, he was our first episode. And I’m like, yeah, man, that’s cause here in Austin, you guys just support local so much, which is great.

I mean, that’s how all these brands I’ve been exploding. Um, I think it’s fascinating. And I think so. So if you guys don’t know, um, foreign Cecelia are. I think I can say this, you guys are in the Chobani incubator, no secret there. Then the Chobani. And I think that we’ve talked about them quite a few times, but they.

That’s just a clear sign to me, how helpful all the food community throughout the States is like there’s so much more interest and so much more care in what we’re eating, that people are becoming more helpful within the industry, um, to just to showcase better products and get more ethnic foods in front of other consumers.

Yeah, definitely. Um, I mean, um, you know, obviously for. Um, again, HEB was a great start for us, you know, being part of the quest for Texas and, you know, became on HEB chefs was amazing, but it was that step that a local company, you know, like HEB took us on that kind of like gave us the credibility to be able to apply for the Chobani incubator and them see, you know, we, yeah, they’re in HEB.

So I would say, you know, the local, you know, support here that we got. We’re able to help us branch out into other States. Um, and with the Chobani incubator, they are looking for better food. They’re looking for these smaller emerging brands that, you know, do struggle at the beginning to help them give them that push because it is great products.

It is good food. Um, and you know, we, we do sometimes, you know, till now need that push as a small brand. We need that, that, that help and these. Bigger companies like Chobani are readily, you know, helping us and providing us with, with that push. Yeah. Sorry. Did you want to? Yeah. No. The Chobani incubator has been incredible and I think that they have, um, if you go to their offices, you can see diversity alive and within the brands, but within the people play within their culture.

I think that that’s what they want to do with their incubator to not bring me to things. Um, but bring flavors are different people that are different and, and it’s been an incredible experience. Um, but I think that’s like you see that they, they don’t talk about me. They are millennials. They like, they don’t talk about, uh, moms.

They are moms. And so, uh, yeah. When you see that way, when, when you see that diversity, um, in, in the people that work there, uh, the way they think, what they believe in, I think that that’s incredible. And with the incubator, that that’s what they try to do, like where it’s funny, because like the flavors and the food that we are there, like in this, uh, in this cohort, it’s, it’s completely like, we are not like everyone is different.

Yeah. What, um, w I guess, We have to wrap up soon, but what are some key advice or key tips that you would like to share with entrepreneurs who want to introduce a foreign food product to Texas? Cause I. Um, I’m not going to tell you what I said. Cause I had a phone call with someone who wants to start a hummus company yesterday.

And I was like, I’m going to talk about all this tomorrow, but what are some, what’s some key advice that you could offer to entrepreneurs who want to sh bring their culture here? Um, I’m drawing from personal experience is, um, is be out in front of the people at the farmer’s market that really, really helped us because you’ve got so many people there and, um, The people at the farmer’s market when they’re walking by, they’ve got time to sit down and, you know, or just stand and listen and understand this product and you know what it’s about and the story behind it and not one person then goes on and tell us their friend and their family.

And it kind of like extrapolates from there. So for me, it would be starting, you know, in a local place where you can be in front of so many people. Um, and then as you grow. The next step for us was that, that the quest for Texas, you know, that was just huge. But we growing and we’d got some consumer feedback by the time we applied for that.

Sweet, um, West for Texas. Yeah, you guys, if you’re listening to look that up, that’s very, very powerful. It’s not a program. It’s a competition. Yeah. Um, where do, where do y’all see the ethnic packaged food? Sector going, do you think it’s rising? It’s obviously rising, but how far, how big do you think it’s going to get?

I think that it has been, he has to preach several different aisles in the supermarket. Obviously he has reached like out of home, like foot, like everything like has to do with food trucks and restaurants. It’s there already. Like we used to see the diversity that it’s. So there, when you go to different restaurants, it’s not barbecue.

Like it used to be before or text Meg. Yeah. There used to be one international aisle at HTB. Now, like you said, y’all’s food isn’t even in the national. No. So I think that it’s, uh, what is happening is. It’s that is, there is not going to be their international section, uh, in the supermarket, but that has permeated, uh, because in the end they are different flavors and that’s what the consumer is looking for.

And so they go to their, uh, spice section and they can find like different spices from, uh, all over the world. Uh, and I think that there are certain, uh, aisles, like the frozen aisle. I think that’s. It’s hitting now that, that innovation, it happened like with like bars, for example, like you can see all sorts of bars, like snacks, you can see all sorts of knocks.

And I think it’s finally arriving to the frozen aisle where like it’s innovating and it was ripe for innovation that, that that’s. That section of the freestyle. It was looking at, we had the readers for a long time and now consumers are, the consumers are looking for different snacks, different flavors, because they have found those.

It’s like Sirracha, they tasted that at the, uh, the restaurant. Now they want to be able to buy it at the same time. It’s in all the, all the tables, Russia. Um, okay. I think the last question I have for y’all is, um, What’s one. I always laugh at this question, but what’s one thing you wish you knew when you started.

Oh gosh. So much. Yeah. Pull out your notebook.

It needs a lot of patients. Let’s put it that way. Um, you, if you’re going into the food, Industry CPG, um, is a great journey. It’s a great ride, but there’s a lot of patients that comes along with it. A lot of perseverance, you need a lot of determinations because, um, you know, there’s quite a lot of nos along the way before you get that first.

Yes. And if you give up after the 10th or 15th, now you could have been one, you know, one no away from a yes. So just be patient it’s, it’s tough, but it’s an incredible journey. It really is. Yeah, I think for, for me is, uh, learning that you have to live with imperfect things. And I think that like coming from like big corporations, uh, that I used to work with and even like other like bigger companies, when you start your own company, it’s like, mm.

If you can get it done, then that that’s good. And sometimes being okay with not having their perfect thing out there. Uh, you, you have to be able to live with that. And I think that sometimes it’s hard. Uh, but yeah, I, uh, it’s, it’s one in the personal level, I would say surround yourself with like, Really unintelligent people.

There are amazing mentors out there. Uh, we, we have an incredible community of, of civic chip for CBG people that I think that our, um, greater top in. And so, um, they, they are available. Yeah. Yeah. So, so be patient and don’t seek perfection. be okay with just doing the things, um, beautiful. That. Very well said.

Um, so where to wrap up, where can people find your stuff now? HEB? Um, you can find ourself at HEB. We sell at the smaller co-ops as well. Like weeks’ fail farmhouse delivery online. Um, but HEB currently, um, we’re in just over two. Oh. 200 stores around Texas. So here in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, which section of T yep.

The frozen healthy foods aisle in AGV. Uh, so I wouldn’t bananas are available at ATV, um, too. Uh, they are also available on Amazon. Um, Outside of Texas so they can find them in the quake mail aisle and the frozen section. Uh, we are coming up now with like a single serve bag. We used to have like the box and now it’s coming single serve.

So you’ll be able to take them everywhere. So thank you for having us. Yes. Anything else? Any other. Like news. You guys want to share any name? I dunno. Well, no, just thank you for having us. And, um, thank you for listening and thank you everybody in Texas on it, honestly, for the great support. Pleasure is all mine.

I loved, obviously we’re doing this for all the listeners, but I always, I feel like I take more information than anybody else. So I’d love to having you guys on again, far off from alphia foods who you can find. At HEB in the frozen section, aisle and Cecilia from casino 54, who is also in the frozen healthy aisle at HEB.

So snack aisle. Yes. Quick meal sexually at ATB. Well, there you go. So you guys go purchase some of this stuff, try it out, go to their websites. I follow them on Instagram. They have wonderful recipes and keep on enjoying the tasty, tasty, ethnic food that us Texans are providing. Yeah. Thank you guys for listening.

Yeah.

Thank you again to fire and Cecilia for stopping by the studio to chat with me. I love hearing about how you guys got started and what you see coming for the future of CPG companies in Texas. As you both said, patience and letting go of perfection are great things to remember. As we all grow our brands, the packing taste team includes me.

Axel, Brava, producer, Mariah gossip, and audio engineer, Jake Wallace. Thank you everyone at founding media for your support, make sure you have subscribed to the show. So you’d never miss an episode. Also, if you’ve really been enjoying it, you should totally leave us a review and like our page. It helps other folks find our show.

Thanks for listening.