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- In 2015 Huachileteke was formally born, dressing sauce, which today has the flavors of chipotle, jalapeño, blue cheese, and traditional.
Do you know your grandmother’s recipes? In the future they may be more than just delicious. Jorge Guzmán , started working at the age of 16 at the family restaurant, where his father adopted his grandmother’s sauce to offer it with his dishes. But, the entrepreneur since childhood had the dream of selling it.
“The truth is, I have always dedicated myself to opening companies in the restaurant sector… I was there opening restaurants, closing them, and then I worked in companies and returned to undertake and so on until I encouraged this. When I was little I always said, I’m going to sell this sauce, until I get excited , ”says Jorge Guzmán, founder of Huachileteke, in an interview with Entrepreneur in Spanish .
Image: Huachileteke via Facebook.
Mandy as the lead
In 2014 Jorge began to sell the family sauce to his friends, acquaintances and small businesses in markets, and although in his environment the dressing was recognized as “Mandy” sauce, since in this way they called his grandmother, the product would soon be transformed in Huachileteke.
After realizing the good results he was getting with his weekend sales, the entrepreneur began to think with his wife about a commercial name for the sauce and they wanted something really Mexican.
“In the first place, it was going to be huateke because we wanted a very Mexican name, huateke means party in Mayan and since that brand was already recorded phonetically, thinking with my wife one day we said: hey, if the sauces bring chili, why don’t we put the word to it chile in the middle of huateke ”, explains Jorge.
This is how Huachileteke was formally born in 2015, dressing sauce, which today has the flavors of chipotle, jalapeño, blue cheese, and traditional.
Jorge began this adventure in his kitchen, with a blender and the supplies he needed to get his first products. The entrepreneur sold around 800 pesos on weekends. However, in 2019 its sales were 2.4 million pesos.
Huchileteke sells its products 80% to hotels and restaurants throughout the Mexican Republic and 20% to retail stores such as H&B and Super Mode in the north of the country. The goal for the brand is to expand and become known nationally.
Conquering palates
Since he started selling the dressing sauces, Jorge applied to be on Shark Tank México, which airs every Friday at 10:00 p.m. on Canal Sony. However, it wasn’t until this season that he received a response from the show’s production.
Image: courtesy of Shark Tank México
“Send the mail, I made the request and that is how I stayed until one day I was in Morelia at a wedding, the mail with the invitation came to me and it was a great emotion because I have seen that program for years and it was one of my dreams. , stand there. I am very sad, but I wanted to be there and it was achieved ”, he says.
Finally, Jorge reached the fifth season of the program asking for one million Mexican pesos (approximately 50 thousand dollars) for 15% participation. Carlos Bremer and Arturo Elías Ayub were encouraged, but the entrepreneur decided on Arturo Elías and they were 30% for the same amount.
If it’s in your mind it’s in your life
What follows for Jorge’s brand is to position itself nationally in Mexico, especially in the southern part of the country, and then think about exporting internationally.
The idea of this entrepreneur was born from a family recipe, but if you have an inspiration or similar tool, Jorge recommends mixing passion with leaving fear and positive thinking, so that you can start a business.
“Passion, if there is no passion, do not pull this, if you are afraid go ahead because there is something there, and if it is in your mind, it is in your life,” he ends.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/359131