July 12, 2024 – “Do they want to export tacos al pastor? La Anita, a leading company in the production of achiote that gives the characteristic red color to tacos al pastor, is an example of what is happening in some states where the economy is growing at a good pace.
Why is their meat red? The recipe for tacos al pastor includes some dried chilies, but achiote contributes significantly. In the market for this ingredient, there is a leader whose brand is La Anita, which also lends its name to the company based in the southeast.
The folkloric company serves as an example to understand what is happening in that hot region of Mexico, where in some states the economy is growing at a rate that allows it to outpace the rest of the country. Pay attention, Marcelo Ebrard.
The next Secretary of Economy must resolve a stalled project. If not, it will complicate exports of a whole menu of products from the southern peninsula.
The company that sells achiote and habanero sauce, led by Francisco Ávila Heredia, recently surprised with a transaction.
It’s not significant due to its size, but because of the unusual nature of the deal. The Yucatecan company specializing in condiments acquired the Zaaschila sauce brand from Nuevo León in March.
It’s not the first time they’ve made investments of this kind; take a look at the trajectory of Grupo Bepensa, led by Juan Manuel Ponce Díaz.
Yucatán is consolidating itself as a center for food production in line with Claudia Sheinbaum’s plans for the ‘Maya Corridor’ industrial policy that she intends to implement during her term.
La Anita was founded in 1913 by Ana Sosa de Méndez, who sold handmade achiote products.
In 1978, Yucatecan ranchers of Lebanese descent, the brothers Jorge, Ismael, and the late Ali Charruf Navarrete, acquired the business, giving it a new industrial focus and expanding its activities, including transportation services.
The company made a leap in 2016 when it established corporate governance and a board of directors including heritage advisers Jorge Charruf Cáceres, Ali Charruf Álvarez, and Ismael Charruf Villanueva, who appointed Francisco Ávila as CEO.
That year was pivotal. Grupo Modelo announced an investment in Yucatán to build a brewery producing Corona and other brands. Also, Kekén, part of Grupo Kuo, rapidly increased pork production in the state for export to Japan. Other companies in their supply chain joined in.
Local companies, traditionally isolated, began competing for personnel and sometimes for market share with newcomers, prompting their professionalization.
For La Anita, their reforms paid off. They automated processes and began innovating by manufacturing their own packaging. Their executives report doubling their sales from 2021 to 2023, the year they started operations at a new plant in Cuautitlán, State of Mexico. They expect similar results for the next three years.
In March 2024, La Anita acquired the Zaaschila sauce brand, founded in 1996 in San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, which provided them with new logistical capacity, increasing their distribution centers to 14, as well as export channels to the northeast United States, covering more than 250 products (SKUs).
In this context, the Dutch company Heineken is about to start construction on a new $500 million brewery in Yucatán, and Gruma is doing the same with a factory for tostadas and other products for export.
Do you know who knows these businesses well? Altagracia Gómez, president of Grupo Minsa among other businesses, and coordinator of the private sector council that will accompany future President Sheinbaum in her six-year term decisions.
By 2025, the Yucatán Peninsula will have two new CFE power generation plants, railway infrastructure, technologically equipped human resources, and soon, a higher volume of natural gas that could trigger two established development poles this month by the federal government in the municipalities of Mérida and Progreso for investors interested in paying fewer taxes and government fees, under certain rules.
In this context, Bepensa, Heineken, Modelo, Bimbo, Kekén, and La Anita will be playing.
There is only one bottleneck for this buffet: a limited Puerto Progreso, which was not expanded during this six-year term for reasons unknown to the public. It had a plan and economic resources but got stuck in the federal government.
If Mexico wants to export beers, tortillas, achiote, tacos al pastor… Marcelo Ebrard should work quickly on Puerto Progreso.”
https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/opinion/jonathan-ruiz/2024/07/12/quieren-exportar-tacos-al-pastor