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“I love the idea that once you fall in love with the food, you fall in love with the culture. That's really what we want to do with SOMOS,” says Miguel Leal, co-founder and CEO of WE ARE food. “There is often a blanket approach when it comes to Mexican food. Many of the offerings at retailers are Americanized versions of Mexican food. Spoiler alert: Taco salads and chimichangas do not exist in Mexico.”
Miguel Leal started SOMOS with his co-founders Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Snacks TYPE, and Rodrigo Zuloaga, KIND's former head of product development, who were all born in Mexico. They started SOMOS for the American consumer who loves Mexican food but is scared of how to prepare it at home.
Leal said they're on a mission to demystify a category that's been binary for so long: The options have been either buying ingredients to make recipes from scratch, which first-generation Mexicans often do with the help of a family member, or buying Stripped Options – Americanized versions of Mexican food, like hard shell tacos and taco seasoning packets.
“Mexican cuisine is extremely diverse by region,” says Leal. “The food I grew up eating in Monterrey is very different from the food Daniel grew up eating in Mexico City and Rodrigo grew up eating in Guadalajara. We're introducing the diversity of Mexican cuisine to families with foods they can take their families to the table.”
In just under three years in business, SOMOS is available in more than 11,000 retail doors nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Walmart, HEB, Publix and more. In 2024, just over 70% of the brand's spending supports the Mexican community. They manufacture all SOMOS products in Mexico, sourcing as many ingredients as possible in Mexico, and seek to partner with Mexican suppliers and retailers. This includes packaging designers, photographers, food stylists and ingredient suppliers.
The construction and scaling of SOMOS, while challenging bias for Mexican food and culture, it hasn't been easy. Leal and his co-founders have leaned on each other while also going back to some basic business fundamentals to ensure they are setting the business up for long-term success. Here are three lessons Miguel Leal has learned on his way to building SOMOS.
1. Pay attention to accounting details
“I wish I had paid more attention accounting classes in business school,” says Leal. “I was trained as an engineer who got an MBA and was very focused on P&L management. In the beginning, I was chasing growth when I should have been more focused on profitability.”
Leal urges founders to get into the details: accounts payable, receivable and how much inventory you have on hand, focusing on the basics of the business. He shares that most investors will be interested not only in your sales, but also in yours the path to profitability. He reminds founders that the balance is that growing your inventory can take a lot more money, and to be mindful of whether you're tracking the right metrics. Leal also says scaling a business for profit can also be difficult in a market where interest rates are so high right now.
“Your balance can be your best friend or your enemy,” says Leal. “My advice to founders: Start understanding the basics of accounting. Make that balance sheet your best friend.”
2. Meet your customers where they are
“Mexican food is a $68 billion addressable market, yet 82% of consumption occurs in restaurants,” says Leal. “When you walk down the aisles at the grocery store, you'll see that there hasn't been much innovation in the Mexican lineup for years. We know SOMOS can fill that void, offering Mexican food that celebrates vegetables, grains and legumes.”
One of the early lessons Leal recalls is how the co-founders were choosing name their products. “When we first launched SOMOS, one of the products we were most excited about were our pea cadillos, a plant-based protein alternative to my favorite picadillo that my mom would make for me on my birthday every year,” says Leal. . “Not only does the average American not know what picadillo is, calling it 'pea-cadillo,' to refer to the pea protein in the product, we thought we were being clever when in fact, we were just confusing our consumer .”
It was an important reminder that when a consumer is walking the aisles of a grocery store or scrolling on their phone, they are purchase decisions within seconds. It was another fundamental business fundamental that Leal and his co-founders leaned on. For future products, Leal and his team made the names and details clear while staying true to their Mexican heritage.
“Meet your customers where they are,” says Leal. “Make it easy for them to understand what your product is, how to use it, and ultimately decide to buy it.”
3. Building a business with others can have different strengths
Leal, Lubetzky and Zuloaga crossed paths at KIND Snacks. After their time together at KIND Snacks, they broke up and realized they hadn't spoken to each other in over a year. They missed their friendship and they missed building together.
“I feel very lucky to be on this journey with Rodrigo and Daniel,” says Leal. “Rodrigo comes from a family of chefs and is an incredibly talented product innovator. I admire Daniel's leadership style and the culture he's built at KIND. And I'm passionate about connecting all the dots and executing. Together, we all bring different forces On the table.”
As they continue to build SOMOS, their friendships have strengthened. And this time they're spending more time with each other's families, who also bring different skills and expertise. One of Lubetzky's family members came up with the name for the brand, which means “we are” in Spanish. Rodrigo's family has weighed in on the development of SOMOS' Mexican Chili Crisp, otherwise known as salsa macha, and one of Miguel's family members regularly shares ideas for the brand's social media strategy.
“Obviously we don't agree on everything, but we always respect each other's opinions. This is what makes us stronger,” says Leal. “Different perspectives result in the best ideas. At the end of the day, it's not about who's right or wrong; we all want to see SOMOS succeed.”