La Costeña (food company)
Conservas La Costeña, usually called La Costeña, is a Mexican brand dedicated to the canned products market. It was founded in 1923 by Vicente López Recines. The company has become an important brand inside and outside Mexico. Nowadays, La Costeña sells its products across Mexico and in 40 countries around the world. While all its products in the beginning were chilies, the company later began producing new products such as beans, ketchup, vegetables and others. The production plants have been modified also, in addition there is the fact that the factories have won some recognitions for the changes in technology and process.
History
La Costeña was founded in 1923 by Vicente López Recines. He bought a little grocery shop called “La Costeña” where he began preparing chili peppers in vinegar. He packaged and sold chilies in 20-kilogram jars with alcohol so that they could last longer. By 1937 López decided to make his own jar company; this decision changed the business. In 1948, he founded the principal factory in Mexico City. It has an area of five thousand square meters. The new production plant counted on forklift trucks and transport units; as a consequence the business continued growing up and increasing their distribution territory. The business began its industrialization with the application of the first automatic production line with 3-kilogram cans in 1951. Four years later the company installed an automatic production line to making 105-gram cans, moreover the distribution inside the country began. By 1971 the factory moved to Ecatepec with a facility of 180,000 square meters. Since then this facility has increased by 70 thousand square meters.In 1975 the company entered the U.S. market. The company continued growing and by 1991 it had founded a new production plant in Sonora for the production of ketchup, vegetables, and more. In 1994 a new plant was built in San Luis Potosí. In 2006 a new project about a completely automatic plant began; this new plant would work with robots; this creation represents a better and faster production with more quality.
In 2014, La Costeña acquired the American canning company Faribault Foods, founded in 1895. In 2015, La Costeña announced it would triple Faribault Foods manufacturing and warehouse space in Faribault, MN to nearly 1 million square ft. over the next three years. The Faribault brands include S&W beans, SunVista beans and sauces, Luck's beans, KC Masterpiece baked beans, Mrs. Grimes chili beans, Kuner's of Colorado vegetables, Kern's nectar, Butter Kernel vegetables, ChilliMan chili, Pride vegetables and Totis snacks.
Distribution
Since its creation, La Costeña's market share and reach have been core business interests; as a result, the territory served by the company has continued to grow. Inside Mexico, La Costeña products are sold by small and large shops in every state. To service them, there are thirty distribution centers located in key cities throughout Mexico. There are also two international distribution centers, one each serving North America and Europe; products are also sold by independent and chain groceries throughout the world. There are three Mexican production plants creating the brand's products for the various distribution centers. The distribution centers are located in Yucatán, Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Puebla, Acapulco, State of México, Hidalgo, Morelos, Queretaro, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Durango, Torreón, Tamaulipas, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur.The company sells the largest variety of canned products within Mexico. As of 2010 the company exported products to 40 countries; to manage this trade it has offices all over the world such as those in Spain and mainland China. According to the trade paper , in the same year La Costeña controlled sixty-nine percent of the world chile market, with sixteen percent of its output going to other countries.
Products
The company has a wide variety of products in different presentations. Their main products are chilies, beans, tomato puree, ketchup, mayonnaise, vegetables, creams and soups, sauces, specialties, vinegar, fruit, jams and marmalades, portion packs, Dona Chonita, Rancherita, and French’s.Chili Peppers
Products include jalapeños, nacho chilies, jalapeño bits, serrano, serrano slices, rajas rojas, rajas verdes, tomatillos, chipotles, chipotle bits, carrot pieces and long chili peppers.Beans
Another big part of the products are beans. Their presentations can be whole, refried and shattered beans. Some of them can be also mixed with chorizo, cheese, chipotle and pork rinds, finally the beans can be already prepared from traditional recipes as the frijoles charros or sauce for enfrijoladas. However, PROFECO found that there was more sodium recommended in some canned beans.Tomato Puree
In tomato puree products one can find four different preparations: tomato puree, condiment tomato puree, condiment fire tomato and chopped peeled tomatoes. These tomato sauces are used to create the base for some Mexican soups and some Mexican dishes.The presentation is done for the ketchup squeeze bottle, ketchup glass bottle, and ketchup style sauce. The squeezy presentation target are kids.
Mayonnaise
In mayonnaise products there are a lot of presentations: the mayonnaise with lemon juice in bottle and squeezy presentations, mayonnaise dressing for salads in bottle and squeeze bottle presentations, light mayonnaise in bottle and squeezy presentations, mayonnaise with jalapeño in bottle and squeezy presentations and mayonnaise with chipotle in bottle and squeezy presentations.Vegetables
For the vegetables there are five different presentations: golden corn, peas, vegetable salads, peas with carrots, and sliced capsicums.Soups
In the creams and soups there are a lot of presentations: corn, bean, mushrooms, asparagus, and poblano chill creams. There are also chicken and vegetable, lentil soup, and Jalisco and Guerrero Pozole presentations.In the USA
La Costeña entered the international market in 1975. Since the beginning the U.S. was its principal goal with 90% of La Costeña exports going there. The USA has a large Hispanic population, who are the principal buyers of La Costeña products, however the products have become very popular among the rest of the population with chilies as the best sellers. In June 2006, La Costeña established a production plant in Arizona; the plant was built in 2001 for Slim Fast Foods, however it has closed in 2004. The new plant is on the Interstate 10 freeway, which also connects to Interstate 8, helping distribution to the southern California. As part of the plant production, La Costeña acquired the SunVista brand. After the economic crisis, the company has made reduced sales in the US. Although the economy has since improved, food companies have not yet seen any recovery. Until March 2010 the growth was lower than the growth in 2009. This has driven the company to the search for new markets such as Asian markets.In 2014, La Costeña acquired Faribault Foods; brands include S&W beans, Butter Kernel, Kuner's, Mrs. Grimes, Pride, and Chilliman.