Long hours, Pepsi grant help immigrants reclaim their American dream
The “American dream” for Spanish couple Alfonso Fredesvinto Perez and Monica Marful wasn’t achieved simply by just immigrating here. Their version, they say, includes spending countless hours in a commercial kitchen in North Las Vegas, concocting their handcrafted Fredesvinto sauce, then packaging and selling it to grocery stores across the United States.
“When people talk about the American dream, and the possibilities of having a business in the U.S. it’s hard to imagine the satisfaction of working so much. And from day one see results.” Monica Marful, who makes tomato sauce with her husband to sell to grocery stores
Although restless hours may breeze by during those cooking sessions, they always find time to shimmy to music. At the end, sometimes early the next day, they find themselves “covered in tomato,” yet fullfilled.
“It’s a tough process, physically, but it’s fun, because cooking is fun,” Marful said. “And when you do it with your husband, it’s something,” she said.
Step into a Whole Foods in the Las Vegas area and you’re bound to spot the fruits of their work: Clear Fredesvinto jars brimming with the mahogany-tinted sauce. A closer look at the packaging sees Perez’s portrait. And if you’re lucky, you may catch the couple conducting a live cooking presentation. “When people talk about the American dream, and the possibilities of having a business in the U.S. it’s hard to imagine the satisfaction of working so much,” Marful said. “And from day one see results.” The Fredesvinto sauce, touted as being 100% natural with no sugar, can be found in 37 cities across 20 states, and also can be ordered online. The small operation, which counts only the couple as full-time employees, is soon launching other tomato-based sauces: marinara and arrabbiata. A 16-ounce jar sells for $12.90.
Their business philosophy, Fredesvinto Perez said, is that titles are useless when it’s a family endeavor, explaining that the couple does everything together, from cleaning to delivering.
Like for many other small-business owners, the COVID-19 pandemic endangered operations for the Madrid natives. But after recently receiving a $10,000 grant from Pepsico, they’re able to kickstart operations again full-force. Another 149 Hispanic-owned businesses, such as restaurants, bodegas and meat markets, were the first of 500 entities Pepsi supported with its $50 million “Juntos Crecemos” grants to keep them afloat during the pandemic.
“Thanks to Pepsico, we will be able to retake what the damn pandemic has taken from all of us,” Fredesvinto Perez said.
With the money infusion, the cou
ple was able to restock materials for and is planning an upcoming trip to Texas for cooking demonstrations, a pressing part of their marketing strategy.
The business idea began as a conundrum many minted immigrants face when arriving in the United States: Finding the ingredients to cook their native recipes.
“You leave Spain and learn that there’s no fried tomato sauce,” said Marful, who met Fredesvinto Perez, her brother’s best friend, in her childhood.
In Spain, fried tomato sauce is the “most used” requisite for most dishes, from arroz a la cubana to paella. It’s poured on pastas, guisos and meats.
Family recipes, like the one Fredesvinto Perez uses, call for the sauce to cook for at least three hours. The time-consuming endeavor in Spain has in recent times been replaced by mass-produced sauces sold in stores.
Fredesvinto Perez, a chef by trade, and Marful, who holds a degree in publicity and marketing, found a niche: What if they could not only replicate the homemade sauce with the chef’s “unique touch,” but also sell it at grocery stores?
The couple, who moved to the valley 11 years ago, spent months researching the business, going through training and obtaining permits before launching in late 2018.
It was one thing for family and friends to tell Fredesvinto Perez that his sauce was delightful, but another for store managers, to whom they delivered samples, to also say it was a hit.
By the summer of 2019, Whole Foods was selling the sauce and several other chains came calling, the couple said.
Last year was supposed to bring growth, but instead a pandemic shocked the world economy that made the couple shaky on how they would keep their business afloat. They had to delay the launch of their new sauces.
Then the Nevada Small Business Development Center called to offer help. The couple was told about the Pepsico grant program, and received funding two weeks later.
Fredesvinto Perez said the process was “facilisimo,” or Spanish for “super easy.”
The program also is advising them on financing to further grow the business. The couple dreams of one day seeing their sauces in grocery stores in every state.
Yet they don’t want to sacrifice quality.
Fredesvinto Perez said he’s been contacted by companies that sell industrial machinery, promising that it would help cut down costs and time, offers that he declines because he knows his magic touch would be threatened.
“I can’t sacrifice the taste,” he said. “What will my product turn into if I sacrifice it? Maybe bad.”
Instead, he and his wife envision a day in which he doubles, triples or even quadruples the output of sauce replicating the same method the couple use now, with pots and pans.
Working together is unifying, said Marful, noting that running a business produces a lot of stress, a lot of nerves. But long term, it’s very comforting, she said. “You have someone who always supports you.”
The couple struck a positive tone when asked what they would tell prospective business owners. Naysayers will always say that something isn’t possible, which naturally brings self-doubt, Marful said. But “never lose your hope,” she added.