Home cooking is a labor of love.
And for Mexican-born entrepreneur Miguel Real, it was his love of Mexican food that ultimately inspired him to begin his entrepreneurial career.
Real and two friends, Daniel Lubetzky and Rodrigo Zuloaga, are the founders of SOMOS Foods, a company that makes ready-to-eat, non-GMO and gluten-free Mexican products.
Founded just over four years ago, SOMOS Foods is already sold in 9,000 retail stores across the United States, including Whole Foods.
Real found success in the food business, but he didn't jump into the field right away. As a matter of fact, he initially wanted to pursue a career in the engineering field.
family of entrepreneurs
Miguel Real stands to the left of his grandmother at a middle school graduation ceremony in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. (Courtesy of Miguel Real)
“I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” Leal said. “I watched both of my grandfathers start their own businesses, and, you know, my father, my uncle… I saw all the efforts and all the risks they took.”
Real grew up in Monterrey, a city in northern Mexico known for its great barbecue scene and proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border.
At a young age, Leal watched his family grow their businesses, some becoming more successful than others.
But he especially learned from one of his grandfathers, who founded an industrial equipment company called Tolteca.
“My grandfather would take me to interpret for people installing equipment in factories,” Leal said.
Real added that he watched his grandfather buy discarded equipment from Europe and install it in factories. He said he was impressed by the risks involved.
“I was in my early teens, and it made a huge impression on me,” he said. “I felt like I really understood the risks and rewards he was taking.”
He eventually grew up and studied industrial engineering at Monterrey Technological University, one of the best schools in Mexico. He intended to continue specializing in engineering after graduation, but chose instead to pursue his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania.
Miguel Real, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and his grandfather. (Courtesy of Miguel Real)
Try entrepreneurship
After earning his MBA from UPenn, where he met his wife, Leal launched his first business in 2002. Select Product Group sold packages to fast food restaurants.
“We created food packaging for Subway,” Leal said. “It was very successful and grew to over $100 million in sales.”
A few years later, in 2007, Reel ended up selling the company to Georgia-Pacific, one of the world's largest producers and distributors of tissue, paper, and pulp. This, he says, was the real beginning of his entrepreneurial career.
In some cases, a contract may not be reached. But every time, whether it's positive or negative, it's an opportunity to build relationships.
miguel real
Despite making millions of dollars selling his company, Leal still had to find the next step in his career.
“We made some money,” Real said. “But I didn’t have enough to retire, so I had to work.”
From processed paper to food
Miguel Real, his wife Janet, and their three children while working at Kettle Foods, Inc. (Courtesy of Miguel Real)
This is Real in 2007. I sold my first multi-million dollar company and am looking forward to my next challenge.
He was no longer a new graduate and had to consider two new things in his personal life. That's when his newborn daughter and his wife Janet quit their full-time jobs to become yoga instructors.
“All of a sudden, not only was I a father, but there were three people in my family, and I was the main breadwinner,” Leal said. “There was a lot of pressure financially on what I was going to do next.”
So he initially considered starting a restaurant, but after exploring various possibilities, he decided on a job other than being a boss. He started working as a brand manager at Frito-Lay, where he took a break (of sorts) from the stress of running the company and focused on what he loves most: food and people.
“I was the lowest-ranking person in the marketing organization, but I loved it,” he said. “I've worked with some really smart people and their decisions have gotten me here today.”
Mr. Real ended up working at Frito-Lay for two years before quitting to work for other companies, including Danone and Kind, before finally joining Mexican hot sauce maker Cholula.
“The most important thing we learned from that brand is that people are interested in high-quality food made in Mexico,” Leal said.
“It was just a big, big eye-opener and a point of pride for me,” he said. “Even though I was the only Mexican on the U.S. team, I felt the product was great.”
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miguel real
So how did Real come up with the idea to launch a Mexican food brand?
According to him, there were several episodes in his life when he pondered this idea.
The first one was when he was still in college in Mexico and living with his grandmother.
“She was an old-fashioned Mexican grandma. She would buy us fresh food every day. Tortillas, beans, everything, and all she had to do was cook it. It would be delicious,” Real said.
But as Real grew up, she realized that not everyone had the time to shop for fancy ingredients and cook like her grandmother did back then.
“I have second-generation Hispanic children and many of my multicultural family friends are all busy and don't have time to go to the market every day,” Leal said.
As I brainstormed what to do next, I remembered a conversation I had with my friend Daniel Lubetzky, who founded KIND Bar in 2017. So he asked himself his three simple questions. Why does Mexican food have to be cheap, loaded with ingredients, and made with low-quality ingredients?
So he called Lubetzky and decided to put his idea of creating a Mexican food brand into action.
Somos is born
Miguel Real, Daniel Lubezi and Rodrigo Zuoraga are the co-founders of Somos Foods. (Courtesy of Miguel Real)
“My first thought was, I need a name, I need a recipe, and I need a team,” Leal said.
With the help of Lubetzky and their American wives, Lille was able to obtain a list of people to hire and a name for a brand that connected both Americans and Mexicans.
“We wanted a brand that brought cultures together, and I love[SOMOS]because it's so symmetrical,” he said.
The word “Somos” means “we” in Spanish, and Real liked that it was a five-letter word that had perfect symmetry when split in half.
After coming up with a name, Real and Lubetzky brought in a third friend, Rodrigo Zuloaga. He also worked at KIND and came from a long line of chefs.
“Our first hire was in operations, then sales, then finance, and then we were off to the races,” Leal said.
Next up was a recipe for a sauce developed by Zuloaga in Jalisco, Mexico.
“Rodrigo sent boxes of food to my house,” Real said. “And we said, why don't we do a direct-to-consumer business? This box is great.”
The trio tested direct-to-consumer shipping in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States. The service exceeded expectations, “It was a great test,” Leal recalled.
“We were planning on selling 5,000 cases in the first month, but we sold 15,000 cases in the first week,” Leal said.
From home delivery services to grocery store staples
Miguel Real is one of the three founders of Somos Foods, a company that provides ready-to-eat, healthy Mexican food. (Courtesy of Miguel Real)
But that will all come crashing down in 2021 when people start leaving their homes and shopping in stores again.
“We were starting out nationally and it was very difficult,” Leal said. “Financially, it was a huge failure. It was miserable.”
But in 2021, the company began to see some success as it slowly rolled out its sauces to retail stores.
The big break came when Real exhibited its products at Expo West, the largest natural foods trade show in the United States.
“Nearly 90,000 people come. There are about 90,000 to 10,000 businesses that set up food stalls and provide food,” Leal said.
But most important were the retailers, who were also present at the show.
“We have all the retailers from Whole Foods to Walmart to 7-Eleven to Albertsons to Sprouts,” he explained. “This is a make-or-break event for the food industry.”
So Real and Lubetzky used their connections in the food industry to meet with major retailers and eventually help them expand distribution.
“Daniel, myself and the whole team just picked up the phone and reached out to everyone who wanted us to make an appointment at the expo.”
Now, four years after launching SOMOS, the company's products range from salsas to vegan entrees like rice and beans.
“I love the brand. I love my job. I love the team. So we're going to continue until we retire,” Real said.
Real was interviewed for Bísness School, a series that tells the inspiring stories of Latino founders. Subscribe to Bísness School wherever you get your podcasts and get future episodes automatically. Remember, business school is expensive. Business school is free.