Building Unbreakable Brands

Meghan Lynch ():
Welcome to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast where we talk to business leaders with a generational mindset.

I'm Megan Lynch.

I'm an advisor to family businesses and CEO of six point strategy, a brand strategy agency that helps generational brands honor their past while evolving for the future.

Today my guest is Linda Renteria.

Linda and her husband Robert Sanchez.

Own and manage Casa Sanchez Foods, a third generation manufacturer and distributor of fresh salsas and tortilla chips.

Welcome Linda.

glad to have you on the show.

Linda Renteria ():
Thank you for having me.

Meghan Lynch (): I was hoping you could start off by just taking us a little bit through the history of Casa Sanchez Foods, just to understand a little bit more about where the company came from and where you've been.

Linda Renteria ():
Sure.

The company started, as you said, this is third generation, it started 101 years ago in San Francisco.

His grandparents came from Mexico and started a food business out of their home, which turned into a Mexican scent, which is a store with Mexican products.

And then from there it led to a restaurant and the tortilla manufacturing when his father split and got married.

And then my husband came in and now we have our own business using the same Casa Sanchez logo and name with our own products and manufacturing.

Meghan Lynch (): I think it's really interesting that you come in as an in-law to the business and are running it, helping to run it now as COO and owner.

And that's such a unique role and perspective.

I think a lot of our listeners have in-law are in-laws or have in-laws who are really integral to the family business, but it's not an easy role to navigate.

That's a tough one.

I'm curious how you've handled it.

What helped you earn trust?

How did you find a role within the company that you felt comfortable with and that you've been able to grow into
Linda Renteria ():
You?

We walked away.

My husband tried.

He had told me this before.

When I met him, I was trying to be pleasant with the family, everything else, I had my own career.

he had the business and I respected that and I said, okay, you handle the business.

I'll support any way I can.

Then once the kids came along, I continued to support in health benefits managing, but he walked away from the business and we had a whole different business.

We had two bars at the airport, SFO and coffee shops at San Francisco State.

Once they realized that they were not able to maintain the business, we came back.

But I've always respected that relationship of that is the family business with his family.

I am involved only when he asked for some opinions,
():
But I never attended the family meetings.

I never did any of that again because I didn't want them to think, , she came in and now she's trying to take over.

I never did that.

I was always just more of a support system.

But when we realized it was not going to work, we did split and start our own business.

And I have a say in the business here, partnership with my husband, but I don't get involved when they're making their own decisions on what they're doing with their business.

And I think that has helped to maintain that boundary.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah, it sounds figuring out how you can be supportive without really stepping on other people's toes and trying to keep some, as you said, guardrails in between that.

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah, and I think, again, my husband's an adult and he loves his siblings to death.

They have not been supportive, but he does still want to keep that relationship going.

it's his decisions that as long as they don't impact my kids, that's a whole different scenario.

That's completely separate that Oh, no, no, no, we are not.

Then I do have a voice in there, but again through my husband, not for him to see the value of maintaining the business for children to inherit.

Meghan Lynch ():
Knowing that, has that changed the way that you have approached your business with your husband or how you think about the family business or how it grows or how you incorporate in-laws or non-family members?

Linda Renteria ():
Great question because you're right, Megan.

This one, I have been inspired.

I went to a presentation by a company who is in their fifth generation and they all get along.

It's amazing, and I was impressed and inspired by that I am now writing the famous family council agreement or I'm drafting that because you're correct.

My kids get along great right now, but that could change.

I have one child that is working the business, the other two helps support your opinions, but they are not, and we have one daughter-in-law and they all love her and treat her a sister.

But what happens when the other two get partners?

And I just want to make sure that it's all clearly stated, any document that they all agree on how anything happens, all of this happens because I want to be that fifth generation company that's having a great time and enjoying and not what happened to my husband.

very good point that I'm starting that process right now too.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah, I love that because especially it's much easier to write those documents when everybody is getting along, right?

It's now you've got the in-law that you love.

Everybody is feeling good about it.

to write more about how do we keep this going, not much once things have already started to devolve that it's a lot harder to have those conversations.

Yeah,
Linda Renteria ():
It is.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah.

Oh, that's great that you're starting that and also able to see what is the family business that we want to create and see some role models out there that you can learn from and start implementing some things.

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah, I think that there's several wrong role models that we've seen that have gone wrong, family businesses very wrong, and it was not just the first generation, but it continued that those issues continued later on the bitterness.

And I do not want that for this business
Meghan Lynch ():
Or for your kids.

Right, exactly.

You want that to keep that love and that respect going and
Linda Renteria ():
Exactly.

Yeah.

Meghan Lynch ():
That's great.

And in this business you are the COO and are focused on, you have an engineering background and are really focused on the operations side of the company.

as you've grown into leadership in that business and are running those pieces of it, have there been some early operations issues, process challenges?

I know particularly in food manufacturing, the process and operations challenges are almost ongoing, but are there any that jumped to mind as issues that you solved early on that you could use your background to help bring a different perspective to them?

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah, communication was a big one.

And also just setting a structure, having a structure and procedures in place.

People would tell me, oh, it's the Casa Sanchez way.

What does that mean Casa Sanchez way?

There's a business way and then there's no other way getting to the end communication one, it's great when you are small, you can walk into an office and talk about a problem to someone and then you walk out and then you go and talk to somebody else and the conversation has changed,
():
But they don't know that they're related.

The departments are related at all, or that one conversation may impact.

The department has no clue about it.

we started having weekly what I call coordination meetings.

all the department reps will show up at the meeting and discuss what the issue is, and then someone can say, oh, what, that impacts me too, because we were missing orders.

And then there inventory was off, there were a lot of issues.

And then finding out, , I forgot to tell you or this didn't happen.

And that way there's checks and balances within the departments and having employee handbooks, having written procedures at the time I came in and we had a great quality assurance person come in too, and she realized that the recipes were not written down.

You've got to keep that secret and all of a sudden, but if they're not written down, what happens?

all of those procedures came to play, but again, for me it was more documentation, making sure we have employee handbooks, training tons of training all the time to make sure everybody's on the same page and moving forward.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah, it's funny, I think that the not writing recipes down is such a great example of those moments when I feel, particularly when you're moving from a founder led or more organic growth company to something that is looking to scale and you realize , oh, right, this thing that I thought I was doing to help the company and to add value, for example, we don't write the recipes down because they need to be secret, and that's our value.

It's how I'm helping the company is to not write them down.

All of a sudden, that very thing that you've been doing to help all of a sudden now is the very thing that's stopping quality control or stopping the company from continuing on because the person who knew the recipe isn't there or Yeah, that's really, really interesting.

And was there pushback or was it difficult to move from that Casa Sanchez way to writing things down and making that transition?

Linda Renteria ():
Oh yeah, there.

And then we explained to them, and again, back to the training, that the more data you collect and you inform and voice about this, if we can't maintain the inventory, because people would come up to me and say, oh, I saw and take avocados for home or whatever, and I said, interesting.

He would smirk about that and say, see Linda say you're losing money.

And I go, actually, you are losing money.

Because the more we structure things and we do it appropriately, you get paid more, we become more efficient, then we account for exact accountability and then we will be able to pay everyone more because if we keep losing product or we keep losing things that are not, and again, that was also a game changer.

People started reporting that we were losing product the back door through the back door.

():
Wait, yeah.

And that helped us to get to rid ourselves of people that were not good, honest employees and were selling through the back door.

And it changed the whole motivation.

But again, there was more accountability, disciplinary procedures in place that were more coaching, but at the same time, this can't keep happening.

This is not a good vibe.

And again, when you just said it, Megan too, when someone starts a company, they think they know everything.

And my husband was , oh, I'll take care of that.

I'll take care of that.

No, no.

We're hiring people to take care of things.

You need to focus on what you're doing.

that also changed to make sure that the experts were given a voice, not just the owner founder that I got this, I got this.

No, no.

We've hired people.

We're paying them.

They can help us build this company or grow the company.

Meghan Lynch ():
You are listening to building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast all about brand stewardship and crafting an enduring legacy.

I'm speaking with Linda Renteria, who's been the COO of Casa Sanchez Foods since 2011.

speaking of this growth points, inflection points in the company, Casa Sanchez has grown into a strong brand with national distribution.

Have there been some pivotal moments or decisions that you can now look back on that you're , Ooh, this is something that, a change that we made or an idea that we had that really helped us scale successfully?

Linda Renteria (): the company was founded a really good product quality product.

The fresh salsas and wonderful chips.

They taste really .

Good and consistency is there.

But one of the things that launched us the most was direct store distribution.

That means that we have our own people taking it to the store, merchandising it.

And Whole Foods is a great retailer to start with, and they are really focused on helping local businesses.

they got us in, we were able to put a refrigerator at the end cap and add our chips around it.

And then of course Safeway came in one day and said, what the heck?

How come we don't have that at Safeway?

Why don't I get that?

I was at the meeting when I first started at the meeting, when the buyer said, okay, I'm challenging you to this.

You are delivering directly to our stores in 20 stores.

():
Can you do 200?

And I will give you the end caps.

You have to put in your refrigerator with your salsa, and I'll give you the space to put the chips around it.

That Megan is a huge thing for food people and end caps are goldmines for us.

my husband, I'm thinking, wait, you want it done in six months, 200 routes in six months?

And I was already going , , thanks, but we and my husband's , yeah, we can do this.

We will do this.

And we did.

it was 200 within six months.

Again, for anybody in businesses that it's not just production stuff that you need.

You need to make sure that we're going to need cars, vehicles, we're going to need refrigerators.

All of that had to happen.

That was a huge one that I think the growth of the business was tremendously impacted by that.

It was a lot of work for us, but that one helped launch us into a lot more stores and more recognition.

Meghan Lynch ():
It's one of those, be careful what you wish for moments.

Oh no, we're saying yes and then wait, what are we going to do?

But I think that's that entrepreneurial spirit of saying yes first and then figuring out how you're going to do it after the fact.

And probably why he was really grateful that he could be the entrepreneur and then be married to a systems person.

Linda Renteria ():
That's right.

Because when it started happening, okay, we're doing this, alright, let's see what do we have to do, get it done.

Yeah.

Meghan Lynch ():
I feel particularly with food brands, people can have a really deep emotional connection to the brand, to the way it's made, the way it tastes, the packaging, everything about it can be very emotional.

And I do think it's something that it's not totally unique to food, but it's something that for whatever reason, I think gets a lot stronger with food.

And I'm curious whether you've been surprised by the emotional connection that people have to the product at any point?

I
L
inda Renteria ():
Tremendous.

It's tremendous.

People love the Cornman, they love the Cornman and they tattooed it to their bodies.

into 1997, my sister-in-law at the time, my mother-in-law still had the restaurant and the first person that came in said, I love the logo much, I tattooed it my body.

And then of course they say, oh, what, we'll give you a burrito for free every time you come in and show me your tattoo.

41 people later, there were jokes on late night TV about this that I don't know if this company is going to survive.

That would be 5.

8 million.

I think they did a calculation on this and then great marketing technique.

No, it was not.

How do you make it sustainable?

that was pretty cool.

And we get a lot of emails from our customers just being grateful to that.

They love the product.

():
And we have a salt treat product.

We have organic product too.

They love that.

I go to meetings, I go, I volunteer a lot.

And then people say, wait, are you with CAA Sanchez?

And I go, yeah, I work there.

Yeah, I work there.

Can I take a picture with you?

It's cool.

People , oh my God, I can't believe I'm sitting at the table with CAA Sanchez Foods and I just love your products.

And the ultimate was a pandemic.

We are known as a party food.

you can see our sales peak during Super Bowl, Cinco de Mayo, 4th of July picnic, all of that.

That's where we peak sales.

But during pandemic, we were very, very nervous Who's going to throw a party?

No one.

And then we started getting emails and calls on how it was comfort food, we love you much, I can trust your salsas and you are my vegetables.

And then I eat while I'm watching TV instead of popcorn.

I eat chips and salsa.

it was cool to hear all that.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah, yeah.

It's got to be fun when you realize what an important part you are of people's daily lives because it's easy to get just sucked into the day-to-day that goes into making a product and you can get disconnected from the impact that it has.

And I think again, particularly with food and something that where it is part of people's rituals, it is a comfort food.

It is part of their day-to-day life that it's great to be reminded of that connection.

Linda Renteria ():
And then we come back with those messages to our employees too, to the whole team to say, Hey, guess what?

I just looked there and thank you guys, everybody for making this possible.

They do a great job.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah.

I do think you've hit that is a brand aspiration of somebody tattooing their logo onto you.

That's when really have something that works is when people are willing to tattoo it onto their bodies.

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah.

Sorry, I don't have a tattoo of our logo.

Meghan Lynch ():
That's probably wise.

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah.

Meghan Lynch ():
Again, just to speak about some of the things that are unique to the food space.

, it's also a space that there is just a constant influx of new products, new products from big brands with really deep pockets that will invest a lot into a brand that might look artisan or handmade or something.

But actually it's owned by some gigantic conglomerate and then also just new startup brands emerging all the time.

I think it's just a space that gets people a lot of , oh, I'm known for making cookies, I'm going to make my cookies at scale or whatever.

But as third generation family owned looking, you've got your eyes on fifth generation.

How have you managed to figure out what about our company needs to stay the same?

Where do we need to make sure that we don't change and react to every little new competitor or new trend that's going on while at the same time still staying agile and relevant and responding to a changing market or consumer preferences or things that?

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah.

Again, we listen to our customer base is wonderfully loyal and also they love to communicate.

They let us know when something, oh, have you thought about this?

Have you thought about that?

And we listened to them and our retailers working with our retailers too, because you're right, when sales go on other chips, a little bigger company worldwide, and they say, okay, buy one, get two free.

How do you compete?

You can't compete with that.

And we find that we have our niche and we try to do that promotional with the niche of the customers they will buy and they will make that they're willing to pay more because they know what they're getting too.

And again, we all have customer bases and that's fine.

we listened to them and we have brought out products.

Every few years we'll bring out a new product and tested out in the market.

And we've been really fortunate.

I tell people that the company was started with the salsas were started by recipes by his mother, and one of the recipes we came up with about eight years ago was my mother's recipe for her
Meghan Lynch ():
Salsa.

Oh, fun.

Everyone
Linda Renteria ():
Has different salsa.

And we tested out and also always on the lookout for what's out there that's new that could fit in with our branding too.

():
We have come up with different chips, different salsas, and we're about to hit another salsa in about six months, a brand new, maybe two salsas and some other chips too to fit it.

But you have to bring in, keep the traditional stuff that people love.

Again, back to that comfort food that you're craving, and then bring in some new ones for new customers that they may .

And also working with the retailers that say, okay, for example, one of our big retailers, they make more money off of us than they do off of some of the more known brands.

Meghan Lynch ():
Oh, interesting.

Linda Renteria ():
Know that and they realize that.

they want to keep us.

Yeah.

Right now we're working with a big box that says, Nope, you can't have a price hike.

And we said we can't do it otherwise.

And that's a big, big mean, huge decision for us to say, no, we cannot do it without the price hike.

And they walked away and now they're calling again saying, okay, can we have another discussion?

Meghan Lynch ():
Oh wow.

Linda Renteria ():
Because they do know we sell , we do sell.

, we have, again, back to that customer base.

They do.

They are out there.

And that's important for any brand too, that as long as you're making consistent really good product, your customers are willing to buy it and pay for it.

Meghan Lynch ():
How do you go about listening to customers?

Are they emailing you?

Are they reaching out to you with feedback?

Are you reaching out to them?

How do you get that?

Do you have a system for it?

Linda Renteria ():
And back to the scaling of all of this, because right now they're very vocal.

We get calls, we get emails, they post on our website and we don't really have a website or social media.

We're not strong there.

That's one of the things that we do need to look at in the next few years.

But we maintain a presence that people can contact us, communicate with us, our buyers.

They also, the Nielsen ratings, we use that too in the Northern Bay area.

We are number three in chips behind that little company called, I've heard of them I think.

I think.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

They're around and in salsas we are number one, two, and three and sales for salsa is in the Northern Bay area.

We use that information to say, okay, our customer base is still there and we are extending to other regions, but again, trying to, they're very vocal and we that.

anybody calls in and we take the message and we talk to them, we communicate and engage with 'em.

Meghan Lynch ():
And how do you decide what out of their feedback to react to or take action on?

It's also hard if you've got people who are constantly giving you ideas or giving you feedback.

You could very easily get pulled off in a lot of weird directions that don't make sense for your family or your business.

Obviously they're going to have their own viewpoint that isn't necessarily the business case for the idea.

how do you go about sorting through that and making decisions on what are we going to act on versus what is just feedback that we're going to put aside?

Linda Renteria (): we have an organic chip that we started unsalted, and my pet peeve is that, okay, we need a salted chip, we need a salted chip.

But then you hear from a lot of people that, thank you much, I have high blood pressure.

Thank you much.

I'm having age and I can't have salted chips in your chip.

we have that group.

again, we hear from them, but then you have others that call in and say, I need a salted chip, I want an organic chip that's salted.

we're finally going to be able to do that.

We are going to have a salted chip that's one of the new chips that's coming out, but we're keeping the organic unsalted because we have a customer base for that.

My husband also came up with a marketing idea that we put pictures on the back label of our products, pictures of employees, pictures of historical stuff.

():
We got one call and this seven years that we've been doing this one call saying, I hate having to look at somebody's face when I open your salsa.

And again, the person that handles these calls and these is , Linda, what should I say to this person?

Thank you for your message.

That was it.

What else can you say?

, we have one out of all of the other ones.

And that's what you do.

You take it in stride and say, okay, that person was grumpy.

They don't want to look at our amazing master to salsa maker that day.

Fine, but that's what we do.

But you're right, it is important to look at those and then say, okay, where are our sales coming from?

The areas that they're coming from?

And identify if it's just a grumpy person or if it's really valid comments.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah.

it sounds listening to all of it, but then comparing what they're saying with data trends, what is the business case for what they're saying versus what is just a one-off?

Linda Renteria ():
Completely?

Yeah, because our unsalted organic chip sell, they do sell.

we are keeping them.

Meghan Lynch ():
You are listening to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast for leaders with a generational mindset.

I'm speaking with Linda Renteria, co-owner and COO of Casa Sanchez Foods and a passionate volunteer promoting STEM and manufacturing careers in northern California.

Linda, I want to switch gears a little bit and just talk a little bit about some of the things that you are doing outside of the business or connected with the business maybe, but not directly in the day-to-day.

The first is that you and I first met through the women's president's organization, and I just wanted to talk about that organization a little bit because it's one that has been really important to me and one that I continue to just be excited about.

I just meet many fabulous women through it.

I'm curious what the impact of that organization has been on you.

Has it changed how you approach your role as a woman leader or just having that network of support?

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah, when you said woman leader, I guess I grew up as a tomboy.

My father, I'm the oldest, and dad definitely wanted a boy and I was willing to go fishing with him, hunting, doing all that stuff.

there was never really that women issue thing for me.

WPO offered more of the Latino versus white community
():
Because I think going to these meetings, the diversity of businesses that are in the meetings and their issues, how they're addressing those issues.

And sometimes you think, okay, it's just us.

It's just us maybe.

And when you hear that they're dealing with very similar issues and we're advising each other, at no point did they say, oh, because Linda's Hispanic and she has a Hispanic food business, it's going to be different.

Nothing that.

And you realize, okay, got it.

And the feedback I get is very valuable, you were saying, Megan, because that way you come and use it with your business, say, okay, I'm not the only one dealing with this.

This is nothing to do with any other reason other than it's business issues.

And it's really helpful to not focus on, okay, is this because we're a Hispanic business, we're Hispanic food, or we're working with retail stores, whereas they're working with big corporations, other bigger corporations.

No, it's just business that you have to address.

And we work together to formulate a plan, a perspective.

And again, coming from different perspectives, different eyes is really helpful for you to get out of the weeds and say, okay, wait a minute.

You're right.

There is a path.

I got this.

(): that's been really helpful to me.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah, that's really interesting.

And there is something that is validating of, I always find that I learn a lot when I bring an issue to my group and they help me think about it.

And they have different ways to look at it than maybe I would.

But one of the things I also find really valuable is to hear what other people's problems are because it is that validating piece of , oh, right, we all have these same issues.

This isn't me personally doing something wrong or failing in a way.

This is the work, this is how business is done, and the problems that we're having or challenges or whatever they are, are actually in a lot of ways the byproducts of doing something right?

You're growing, you have more challenges, more complex challenges, and there's something really validating about that peer learning.

I think when you hear other people say things that you're , oh yes, I also have that problem.

Linda Renteria ():
And the failures, you mentioned Megan, there's failures.

Then you say, okay, great.

we're not true failures.

You have to go through some of these things and you make some of the mistakes.

One of the speakers at WPO Conference said that sometimes when you create it, there was a failure, but you still got it done.

it was not the most efficient, nothing.

But again, that is another step for you to really accept and say, we did it.

We still did it.

Next time it's going to be much better.

But when you hear that happening in the ground table, you can say, got it.

Okay.

they made mistakes.

We all do.

It's not just and move and grow from that.

Meghan Lynch ():
Have there been any specific moments or stories over your time where having either that peer network or some other network has changed the way you've approached a challenge or approached some opportunity for the business?

Linda Renteria ():
Yes, there's been many opportunities.

you said, we learned from all their issues that they bring to the table.

But I had one where my husband, how to support him better because it's harder to do as a wife because you forget that.

And I didn't understand the coach aspect.

Now he's been involved in sports his whole life.

But again, back to the Latino culture that what do I need someone else to tell me how to do things?

I know how to do things.

And I noticed though a lot of the women have coaches and how they user coach, and that was really new to me and interesting.

we now are working with a coach,
Meghan Lynch ():
Oh cool.

Linda Renteria ():
To help my husband as the CEO, but also help the team because again, he still cannot get rid of the whole idea that he should be in charge of everything.

that helps us and it helps him.

But that one was valuable because I didn't understand the role of a coach and they helped me fully better understand that.

And then I was able to sell it to him.

And now we have a coach on board that is helping us with a lot of the issues that we need to address.

Meghan Lynch ():
That's really cool.

Yeah, it's fun how some of those things, it's if you've never used one, never experienced it, it just doesn't, you hear the term, but it's not really that meaningful until you start to see how other people are using it and then also the benefit that they're getting from it's , oh yeah, I could do that.

Yeah,
Linda Renteria ():
Yeah.

Meghan Lynch ():
I know you also have spent decades volunteering and advocating for STEM and manufacturing careers.

Why is that work important to you that you have invested much time and effort in making that happen?

other than obviously future employees, but why is that important?

Linda Renteria (): I've been really fortunate to have people believe in me my whole life.

It started with my parents saying that you are going to college no matter what.

I are going to pay for it.

We are going, you are not.

I'm not going to buy you that doll that you want.

I'm not going to buy you the toy you want, but I want to make sure you understand that when you're working out in the fields during the summers and all of this, we are going to make sure that we will pay for your college.

And because you deserve to go there and you are smart enough, my teachers help me with that too.

Fifth grade, my teacher encourage me to read.

I noticed you reading.

Don't ever forget that.

Keep reading.

I still remember Mr.

Smith, Mr.

Arson, our middle school.

I love science and math.

():
And he told me, you can get to many places with science and math.

you continue with that, Linda.

And then in high school, Colonel Pigeon, he was our counselor, he pulled me in for a meeting and said, okay, what do you want to do?

You're really good in math and science and you seem to it a lot.

And I didn't have anybody in my family to encourage me to do weight.

Oh yeah, go this and that.

And he said, have you thought of engineering?

I said, oh, okay.

What's engineering?

And then I pulled out the yellow pages.

I tell this to kids, those don't exist anymore.

Now you have the internet for numbers in my little town of Watsonville near Santa Cruz in California, and I called a civil engineer.

I did being outdoors.

I called him up, he didn't know me from anyone else and said, come on over and I'll talk to you about what engineering is about.

():
And it was really valuable.

He gave me two hours of his time and said, if you have any more questions, come over and here's some magazines on civil engineering just for you to understand that you're not going to be the person doing the actual physical work, but you are going to be managing, designing all of that.

And that sounded really cool and interested.

again, because of that, I got into engineering and it's a very good career.

I want to encourage others to do this.

I'm five foot two people, women and Latinos don't think that, oh my God, the math, the science, math, you start with one plus one equals two.

It's not they're going to throw calculus at you in kindergarten and then you continue with that.

And then science is the same thing and you get into some really cool projects, the other one.

():
But again, that whole concept of the nutty professor that, oh, you've got to wear glasses all the time and you've got to be dorky and nerdy to be a scientist or engineer is out the window.

Anyone can do this as long as you want to do.

If you the math and the science and do that.

Manufacturing is the same thing.

The greasy mechanic and manufacturing.

And now, no, there are many various careers in manufacturing that are exciting.

Food right now is very exciting.

They're coming up with many new things just with peas, fake fish, fake, all of that science that's going on in food manufacturing too.

these are two really good career paths.

Engineering pretty much you can create your own degree right now in engineering.

If food manufacturing, the same thing.

We had an intern here, she started working here for the salsa, then moved on to chocolate, and now she works at with peas.

():
That's why I mentioned the peas.

Now she's getting a master's degree and peas.

in food manufacturing, again, very cool careers, but if kids don't see it or hear about it and they don't see their face in that career, they don't think it's for them.

And that's why I do a lot promoting, again, over 35 years with STEM and now almost 10 years with manufacturing and STEM and entrepreneurship, and we just moved the needle in STEM where we're seeing more women in STEM than ever before.

And it's growing, which is really cool because unfortunately in the US more kids want to be YouTubers and talkers than they do go into careers,
():
We have to do our best to encourage them.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah, that's great.

It's such important work and it is amazing how just one person putting the right suggestion in front of you at the right time can just have such a tremendous impact.

I love the fact that you're spending time and energy doing that for other kids.

That's really cool.

Linda Renteria ():
Plus it's rejuvenating and inspirational to see the kids what they're doing too.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah.

Yeah.

I always feel we'll have Henry on in a second and I always feel I learn as much or more from him.

I go in to teach him and then I realize, oh, actually, oh, I should listen to you more.

This is pretty cool.

Yeah, they've got a lot going on.

as you think about the future and what the future holds for you, the business, your family, what are you most excited about?

What are you looking forward to?

Linda Renteria ():
Fourth generation.

Meghan Lynch ():
Yeah.

Linda Renteria ():
He's in with us.

He's been with us for three years and I know that most businesses say, have your kids go work somewhere else first.

():
I think it also depends on personalities of the person.

And he's worked for us since summers and then when he was in college and now he's been here for almost three years now over three years.

And I approached him about six months ago and I said, this is my fifth career path and I'm going to my sixth and I'm ready to start.

I'm already starting my sixth career path.

I told him, what about taking over my job?

And he loves it.

Yeah.

I will be training him for the next two years on my role in the company as COO and what it all entails, because sometimes they just see you working, coming in and doing that, but they don't fully understand.

Lucky for us, he's been in the county department production department, the maintenance department and shipping now.

he's got a full rounded education of the company.

He also was the champion for our new ERP system, he got to learn all about that too, and taking over my role.

I'm excited about that because I think he really is passionate about the company and also excited to see what else can happen with the company.

that's the cool thing.

Meghan Lynch ():
Oh, that's really cool.

And that's exciting that you're already starting that work and have a nice long time to be working together and see both what you can pass on and then also what he can bring.

Is there anything that you see in him in particular that you're really excited either to continue to nurture or that you think would be valuable to the company or,
Linda Renteria ():
Yes, because I think one of the things with businesses, again, when they start, my husband didn't have the data analysis component of things.

He just knew, okay, let's start these products.

I think just get it out.

Let's do this.

Let's see what happens thing.

My son is bringing the analytical portion of it.

Meghan Lynch ():
Oh, cool.

Linda Renteria ():
Math analysis.

He has that background and he's the component of costing, doing all of those.

We need that, especially when you start small and you grow big, you don't really, as long as you're selling and making some money.

But now we're hit this year in particular because of all the uncertainties happening, we're hitting more complicated roads, paths, and we need that data analysis and we need someone to sit down and say, okay, we need to look at all the different scenarios.

We, here's the costing base for this.

Here's costing for this.

Let's look at that.

It's important for continued growth.

I think that's what he's bringing to the table, which is really exciting too.

Meghan Lynch ():
You're listening to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast for leaders with a generational mindset.

My guest is Linda Renteria of Casa Sanchez Foods, a third generation manufacturer and distributor of fresh salsas and tortilla chips.

We're going to turn the mic over to see what my son Henry can learn from Linda by asking her some of his questions as the voice of the next generation.

Meghan Lynch ():
, Henry, welcome.

You have some questions for Linda?

Henry Lynch ():
Yes, I do.

I do.

I do.

I do.

Meghan Lynch ():
All right.

Anytime you're ready, you go for it.

Henry Lynch ():
Okay.

what are your goals for the business?

Do you have some hopes for it or do you think you're good where you are?

Linda Renteria ():
No, we definitely have goals.

We want to diversify the products that we make, but it's not always easy because if we want to do meal prep products or anything else, we have to buy equipment for them and space.

And we don't have that right now.

we are looking at collaborations with other food manufacturers that they can make the products for us to diversify and then go into different regions than we're at right now.

Henry Lynch ():
Alright, second question.

How many generations do you think this business is going to last?

Linda Renteria ():
, I hope it continues now.

When I say I hope it continues, that's the family vision.

My husband and our kids.

But as I do that, that could be maybe fourth generation is in the house right now and he's working here and he's going to take over.

He's saying that he wants to take over and then from there we'll see what happens.

Henry Lynch ():
Yeah.

Sounds good.

do you use technology to make your tortilla chips?

Linda Renteria ():
We have to, yes.

We do use technology to make tortillas because if you see before, my mother used to make them by hand and then we had a little apparatus that make the tortilla, but that's just for the house.

when you come out here, we have a machine that grinds the corn, one cooks the corn, grinds the corn, and then makes it into a dough.

It goes into the sheeter, which the sheeter makes the little round tortillas and we're doing 1500 pounds an hour corn.

that's production.

It's 10,000 bags and an eight hour shift and salsa.

It's about 30,000 containers of salsa in an eight hour shift.

Henry Lynch ():
Wow.

That
Linda Renteria ():
Is, do technology and equipment.

Henry Lynch ():
Yeah, that is awesome.

Okay, for the joke, what do robots dip in salsa?

Linda Renteria ():
Whoa, what do robots dip in salsa?

Yeah, you got me?

No
Henry Lynch ():
Microchips.

Linda Renteria ():
Oh, I shoulda had that one.

That's cool.

Very good.

Thank you.

Very good.

Henry,
Meghan Lynch ():
You can use that.

I'm sure your son would appreciate that.

Linda Renteria ():
I'm going to use it right now.

We have a luncheon in the team office, I'm going to use that right now.

Henry Lynch ():
Very
Linda Renteria ():
Good.

Henry Lynch ():
How old is your son?

Linda Renteria ():
He is 27.

Henry Lynch ():
Oh wow.

Linda Renteria ():
Yeah, he's the youngest of the three.

he's the one that's chosen to stay here.

The other two ran off to the East coast.

What are you thinking of for careers, Henry?

Henry Lynch ():
I have a little business right now that we talked about it.

I think it was last episode.

Linda Renteria ():
Yep.

Henry Lynch ():
Yeah,
Linda Renteria ():
Your mom mentioned something that you're recycling and giving to the community.

Wonderful.

Henry Lynch ():
Yes, that is.

The business is we'll take cans and we will give it to Connecticut because it gives us double our money than we get here.

And
Linda Renteria ():
Great business model just for you.

Henry Lynch ():
And then, yeah, we make that money into care packages and then donate them.

Linda Renteria ():
Wonderful.

Congratulations.

That's great.

Henry Lynch ():
But yeah, I feel that's always been a really excited thing for me.

Linda Renteria ():
It, my daughter went into engineering and right now I decided to take a break from engineering to go and work at City Harvest out of New York.

They rescue food and the same concept.

she wanted to do something more for the community instead of corporate for now.

Good for you, Henry.

Congrats.

Meghan Lynch ():
Alright,
Linda Renteria ():
Any other questions or a joke?

I it.

I can use these jokes.

Henry Lynch ():
Yeah, I dunno.

Yeah,
Meghan Lynch ():
Those are all your questions.

Alright, thank you much, Henry.

Those were some good questions.

I learned.

Henry Lynch ():
Yeah, that was all I could brainstorm this morning right before school at seven o'clock.

Linda Renteria ():
Thank you, Henry.

That's great.

Good for you.

And if you're ever in California and you want to come visit the factory, you're more than welcome to tour.

Henry Lynch ():
All right.

Yeah, that would be, make sure to do that.

Meghan Lynch ():
Awesome.

thank you much for being building Unbreakable Brands, Linda, this was a great conversation and really appreciate it.

if people want to either connect with you or learn more about Casa Sanchez Foods, what's the best way for them to do that?

Linda Renteria ():
We can do info@casasanchezfoods.

com or linda casa foods.

com, either one, or again, through our social media.

They don't get to me.

Anyone that has any questions or wants to know more.

Meghan Lynch ():
Okay, great.

Thank you much.

We will put that in the show notes and thank you again, just bringing much energy and just realness, I think to the conversation today.

I really appreciated it.

Linda Renteria ():
Thank you.

My pleasure.

Was really fun to talk with you, Megan, again from a long time ago, but great.

Nice meeting you, Henry.

Henry Lynch ():
Alright, nice meeting you too, Linda.

All right, have a good day.

Recording
Linda Renteria ():
Bye.

Bye.