The science of healthy eating
A Goya Foods leader started as a chemist, then got her master’s in business administration.
Goya Foods broke ground in Brookshire five years ago on its first cannery and food packaging plant built from the ground up. To lead the plant, the New Jersey-based company chose Luz Damaris Rosario, a Puerto Rican chemist with an MBA. As the company prepares to open an expansion that doubles Goya’s Houston-area footprint, Rosario answered questions about her career and building a state-of-the-art food plant in Houston.
Q: How did you become a chemist?
A: Since I was a little girl, I’ve had a passion for mathematics and science. When I saw how chemistry applied to all aspects of life, it captured my imagination. By the time I graduated from college, I saw an ad in the local newspaper for a formulation chemist. Even though I didn’t know anything about formulation, I knew the universal language of chemistry. At Goya, I learned that so many disciplines go into food, not just chemistry, but engineering, physics and microbiology. I fell in love with the science behind canned foods.
Q: How did you end up in management?
A: In a short period of time, I was promoted to lab manager. A couple of years later, I was promoted to quality assurance director. The food industry is highly regulated, so the aspects of regulatory compliance are very important to ensure your company has all the permits necessary to operate. After a couple of years, I recognized the tremendous growth of Goya, and I told the president of Goya Puerto Rico that I wanted to take advantage of the scholarship program to pursue a master’s in business administration. He asked me, “Why does a chemist want a degree in business?” I said, “I see how Goya is growing, and I don’t want to be passed over in the future to oversee one of your operations.” He liked what I said, and I finished my MBA with the goal of one day overseeing a Goya operation. That dream from the 1980s is my reality today.
Q: Was it difficult to move away from chemistry into management?
A: Not really, because I’ve never been detached from the science part of the business. Even the owners participate on a daily basis in product evaluation in the laboratory. This is a dynamic business, where you have to certify on a daily basis that what you are offering to the market is very high quality. Goya grew its brand on the principle that we are always committed to quality. We’d rather sacrifice margin than quality.
Q: What were the challenges of starting a new cannery from the ground up in Houston?
A: This was the first time that Goya has built a manufacturing operation from scratch. From the permits, to the construction, to recruiting personnel, we started out as just a couple of people working in a trailer, and it was a great adventure. Exchanging high heels for safety boots and a hard hat, it was a tremendous experience to bring together my scientific knowledge and the managerial skills of managing budgets and contracts. One of the big challenges for the industry is how to become more cost-efficient, to be more competitive. Having a highly automated facility provides for that. So when you see the processes we have, compared to an old cannery, you see a big difference.
Q: Are you expanding?
A: We are about to complete, next month, an expansion doubling the manufacturing facility and doubling the distribution center. We are already talking about a third expansion, as part of our strategic expansion plan. Houston is an inviting city for business. Goya has been part of the Houston business community for more than 35 years, with a distribution center. With the city’s growth, we saw an opportunity to build this manufacturing plant here, and that really is helping us to reach the markets where we wanted to grow the company. Texas is in a very strategic position for growing business, because the state itself is humongous, but the multicultural aspect is big for us.
Q: Who are your customers?
A: Goya is considered a Latino company, but we fulfill the needs for many ethnicities and nationalities, because lately beans have been widely accepted by all nationalities. Health awareness has led to demand for more vegan food, and I have seen a tremendous penetration of beans in the European markets as part of substituting animal protein with vegetable protein. There is a move toward healthier food, so we are researching exactly what are they looking for. Goya is providing food in the categories of organics, gluten-free, low-sodium, sea salt, so we consider those trends and definitely provide those products to satisfy those customers. The very first year I was here, I noticed that everything in Houston is about energy. Everyone would ask me if I was in the energy sector, and finally I started saying, “Yes, I am part of the energy industry.” Because we supply real energy for human bodies, the most important machine.