Salsa of a local flavor

Jefferson City family finds success after selling restaurant

By Jack Beeson
Adelante Staff

SKY GILBAR/Adelante
Richard Loaiza fills jars of salsa as they are about to be capped at the family business.

Jefferson City is hardly the salsa capital of the world. But that’s where the Loaiza family has been making, canning and packing its own brand, La Casita’s, since 2002. Their salsa is now on the shelves of nearly 200 supermarkets across Missouri.

For Richard Loaiza, who grew up on a dairy farm near Westphalia the son of first-generation Mexican immigrants, homemade salsa is a family tradition.

So it seemed natural for Loaiza and his wife, Linda, to begin making salsa themselves when they owned a Mexican restaurant in Jefferson City, called La Casita, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The recipe evolved over the years as it was tested by customers.

Loaiza said the family’s religious convictions prompted the decision to stop selling liquor at their restaurant. They eventually sold the business and dedicated themselves to salsa. The initial investment of $100,000 came from the sale of the restaurant.

The business is now profitable, though Loaiza would not disclose figures.
The entire production facility for the salsa is no bigger than a three-car garage and is located in the Apache Flats area near Jefferson City. The length of one wall is stacked with boxes. The opposite wall is lined with sinks and counter space. In the middle, where tomatoes and seasoning become salsa, are two 80-gallon kettles for cooking.

Next to them is the small production line where each jar passes under a machine that fills it with salsa, then moves it down the line to the canner, which seals a lid, then passes it into a round silver basin about the size of a four-person kitchen table. There, one of the members of the Loaiza family gathers the jars and puts them in a box. The process produces between 2,500 and 3,000 jars of salsa during each eight-hour shift.

The family runs four eight-hour production shifts each week, producing six varieties of salsa — mild, chunky, hot, pineapple, black bean and peach. Mild salsa is the biggest seller, accounting for 30 percent of all sales, followed by the chunky and hot varieties, each accounting for 15 percent of sales. Richard and Linda run the show with the help of their children, Richard, 21; Valerie, 23; Sarah, 18; Karen, 19; and Emily, 25. They take part in all aspects of production, distribution and promotion. The family also stocks grocery stores with the salsa and gives out samples in stores on weekends. In Columbia, the salsa is available at Schnucks, Wal-Mart, Moser’s Discount Foods, and Patricia’s Foods.

The business is doing well, Richard Loaiza says, but requires constant attention. “It's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.”

The challenge for a small family business is competing with national brands that consumers are familiar with because of big advertising campaigns, Loaiza says. They try to keep up by offering a product with unique qualities, he says.

He says running the business is rewarding and a unifying force for the family. Besides having a good recipe, Loaiza credits the family’s religious faith with helping them survive in business.

“We rely on each other,” Loaiza says, “and we rely on God to do for us those things we could not do for ourselves.”