A TAYLOR-MADE SUCCESS STORY
Starting small, the Ancira family’s salsas are now hot sellers nationwide
Salsa is the spice of life for the Ancira family.
Since the 1990s, three generations of Ancira's have been selling their salsas in Taylor and other towns around Williamson County. Today, what began as a fun family sideline has expanded to become a nationwide business.
This spring, Ancira Salsa went on the shelves of all of H-E-B’s Central Markets, as well as Walmart.com and other national chains.
The salsa saga started in the ’90s with Jesse Ancira Sr. and his wife, Josie. Both worked for IBM, but they also loved to cook. Family and friends raved about their homemade salsa for years. And when they retired, they started making more of it.
“My grandma is phenomenal,” said Jesse “Trey” Ancira III, 33, the chief marketing officer for Ancira Salsas.
“Tortillas, tacos, carne guisada … on weekends she and my grandpa would cook Mexican recipes, and she would always have her salsa on the table,” he said. “When they started winning salsa contests, they started making it in a commercial kitchen and selling it at local farmers markets and festivals.”
He added, “I remember in the early 2000s, cutting out labels with my younger sister, Alex, and helping put them on the jars by hand, crooked or diagonal.”
Ancira Salsa became a popular local product, but now it’s a national success story.
“Three years ago, we were sold in three local stores – Moss True Value Hardware and the Texas Beer Co. in Taylor, and the Sugar Shack in Bastrop,” Ancira said.
“The next year we were in 90 stores across the country. This year, we are in all of H-E-B’s Central Markets, on Walmart. com — just counting national food distributors, we have a 500-door count (the number of places you can buy the salsa), not counting all the mom-and-pop businesses. Our tagline is ‘Nearly World Famous,’” he added.
The company’s website at ancirasalsa. com, Instagram, Facebook and other digital platforms feature the family’s five signature salsas – green, mild, hot, habanero and Six Pack Hot Sauce, along with Ancira Salsa T-shirts, polos, snapback caps and koozies.
Ancira’s father, Jesse Ancira Jr., had the vision to make Ancira Salsa a serious business.
It wasn’t because he had time on his hands. At 59, he is the founding partner of Ancira Strategic Partners, a high-powered lobbying firm that represents Fortune 500 companies and other major clients before the state Legislature. To Read The Full Article Head over to the East Wilco Insider and check it out today! https://www.eastwilcoinsider.com/latest-news/taylor-made-success-story