Somos Foods pivoted from DTC to wholesale, demonstrating that for CPG brands, grocery distribution is often the most viable path to scale. CEO Miguel Leal explains how their prior experience at Kind and Cholula informed their strategy to fill a white space in the premium Mexican food category, securing placement in over 6,000 stores. This episode is key for CPG founders looking to understand the nuances of channel strategy and leveraging retail partnerships for rapid growth.
"International foods are having a moment," said Miguel Leal, co-founder and CEO of Somos Foods. Indeed, that's the thesis of his startup, which makes Mexican food products currently sold in over 6,000 stores including Whole Foods and H-E-B. The company has been around for two years and sells products like chips, salsas as well as rice and bean packs. It first started as an online brand but quickly realized that the way to grow a brand like his is by zeroing in on grocery distribution. "Life was definitely pointing us into retail," Leal said on the Modern Retail Podcast. On the show, he spoke about the state of both CPG startups and why international foods are becoming an increasingly popular area for national grocery retailers. Leal knows a thing or two about national retail. He and his co-founders all worked together at Kind -- in fact, Kind founder Daniel Lubetzky is one of Sonos's co-founders. Leal also worked as the chief marketing officer at both Cholula and Diamond Foods. This background helped him realize that there was white space for a premium Mexican food brand. While high-end Mexican restaurants have risen the ranks in U.S. culture over the last year, "it was the same canned beans and fluorescent yellow hard shell tacos at grocery store." Thus, Somos aims to be a step above Old El Paso. So far, the idea seems to be working. Somos continues to expand into new national retailers as well as expand its product portfolio. Most recently, it launched a salsa macha condiment. "We have some big retail announcements coming soon over the summer, another big one in the fall, and then by the end of the year," he said. "But we also have some really exciting products coming into the market."