After watching season 14 episode 20 of Shark Tank and viewing all four pitches, the one that reasonated with me most was Hector Saldivar and his product line called Tia Lupita Foods. The reason why I loved his product and pitch is because I love how the food he created comes from his cultural background and how he decided to use clean ingredients that help him stand apart from other hispanic food brands at the supermarket. I like to try foods from different cultures myself, to use in my home cooking, but I’m the type who really cares about what I put in my body. I like that Mr. Saldivar cares about making his brand both tasty and healthy and chooses not to add unnecessary ingredients. I also liked that he incorporates ingredients that are unfamiliar, such as the nopal cactus. It is a native plant to Mexico and used in plenty of Mexican dishes, but this was the first time I heard of it.
Hearing about the backstory of Tia Lupita Foods, like how Mr. Saldivar explained that his mother would send him their family hot sauce recipe after he moved to the states from Mexico, was relatable and made me think about the closeness of my relationship with my mother as she would send me home cooked food whenever we spent time apart. Overall, I thought his presentation was funny, engaging and his product is one I would be most likely to buy and invest in if I were a shark. I actually will be trying Tia Lupita Foods in the near future.
I think a lot of people want to eat healthy, but sometimes are short on time due to busy schedules so it’s easy to reach for an unhealthy snack. So I like that Tia Lupita makes healthy chips and tortillas that are convenient to have at home to snack on or make quick meals in a half hour’s time. Mr. Saldivar mentioned that both the chips and tortillas are a low glycemic food, meaning that it is slowly digested while being absorbed by the body and causes a small, slower rise in blood sugar levels, which is good for those who are diabetic. Eating low glycemic foods can also help prevent negative health effects such as heart disease, stroke and damage to our nerves and kidneys.
This is a good product for people who are health conscious, and like food to take on the go or to have at home for parties, special occasions, or simply a quick healthy meal and snack while watching TV or doing their work. For me personally, chips are one of my mother and I’s favorite snacks. I used to eat Lays, Doritos and Ruffles chips all the time growing up. But as I got older and started reading the back of the ingredients lists, I would get turned off by things I did not recognize. I started doing research on the ingredients in these chips and realized I was doing my health a disservice by eating them so I stopped buying them. I still love chips but now I look for those that have simple, few and easy to recognize ingredients. My mother absolutely loves chips but she is a diabetic, and I try to encourage her to eat snacks that she might enjoy that also won’t be bad for her health. The Tia Lupita cactus tortilla chips would be perfect for her.
Products like Tia Lupita Foods shouldn’t just be a want, but it should be a need for consumers because our food, especially processed foods, are so unregulated here in the United States. Food agencies apart of the government allow food companies to put synthetic ingredients and chemicals into our food, and this has been linked to certain cancers, infertility, hormone disruption, developmental delays, obesity, heart disease and much more in both sexes. There was also a study done in 2022 by Datassential stating how younger people in the United States now prefer Mexican food over other cultural cuisines.
Keeping all of this in mind, consumers need products like this because as interests shift to certain cultural cuisines, knowing the store bought versions can sometimes be unhealthy, it’s important if they want to maintain their health and possibly change the landscape of the food industry. The pharmaceutical industry makes millions of dollars each year profiting off of people’s health issues with medication. A lot of this comes from what we eat, and even supermarket food is a huge culprit of bad health like the problems mentioned, especially due to cheap processesed food.
If we put our dollars towards a product like Tia Lupita Foods, that has ingredients that are simple and non-GMO and stop buying other brands that are junk, we would do good for our body long-term. We would also stop supporting bad food brands that only care about making profit and nothing else. I bet the CEOs of these unhealthy brands don’t even eat the foods they market and sell. They probably eat foods similar to Tia Lupita Foods instead. Consumers do need more foods like these on the shelves at the supermarket, simply because in a perfect world (or country) we shouldn’t have to worry about what we are literally consuming. It’s great to have a brand like Tia Lupita that cares about making a difference health wise, and I can definitely support that.
Mr. Saldivar joked on the Shark Tank episode that eating good should be easier than trying to touch your ears with your elbows, and I think that would be a great way to play on marketing tactics for his business. Tia Lupita Foods has distinguished itself from other similar hispanic food brands by its quality ingredients because it contains superfoods, but I would not be aware of it by just looking at the packaging. While the packaging is colorful and vibrant, so are other brands on the shelves selling the same products. I like the packaging, but nothing catches my eye so I think it could be better.
If I were in Mr. Saldivar’s shoes with a goal to get more eyes on Tia Lupita, I would add special label(s) to the packaging, perhaps one or two, emphasizing it’s healthier ingredients, or that it does not contain any bad stuff. I’m more likely to take a second look at a product while shopping when it has extra labeling on the front. If the packaging just contains its brand name with a design and nothing else it does not make me look twice.
Even with labels such as “gluten-free”, “___g of fiber”, “vegan” or “non-gmo”, those labels are often small and not noticeable. A major brand like Lays potato chips can afford to market with TV commercials and that’s why people buy it. When you are a small business trying to grow you won’t be able to do that at first, but you can get creative with your packaging to attract consumers. Even if extra labeling is costly, it would differentiate Tia Lupita Foods from many other brands in its category at supermarkets. A label that tells us that the tortilla chips and tortilla wraps are packed with superfood ingredients, in a short simple wording could go a long way.
References:
Kingson, A. Jennifer (2023). Latin and Tex-Mex Overtake Italian As America’s Go To Food Order. Axios.com. Accessed 30 April 2023.
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/14/food-trends-us-restaurant-menu-tacos
