Sysco Corp. announces its program for the Hispanic food industry. With this innovative program, the most important food distribution company in the country offers complete service for the Hispanic restaurant segment.

Sysco: Offering a New Marketing Strategy for the Hispanic Segment

With the aim of helping the growth of the Hispanic food market in the United States, Sysco decided to focus on this segment to create a new marketing strategy. This way, Latino restaurants and business owners will be able to enjoy the quality, advantages and benefits that the leading company in food distribution in the United States offers.

Although Sysco has always had a product line that caters to Hispanic restaurants, three years ago the company made the decision to strengthen the service for this segment. It now offers everything Hispanic restaurants need in their businesses.

“It’s more than just selling products. It’s also about helping clients be successful with the services Sysco offers. With this program we communicate better with Hispanic restaurant operators, meet all their needs and become an even more culturally relevant company ,” said Diego Rondón, head of Sysco’s Hispanic Segment Program. “The strategy is not only about seeing how we can sell more to the Hispanic market. It’s also about how we can get Hispanic businesses to grow, be successful and become our business partner.”

Sysco Expands Program for Hispanic Segment

The program for Sysco’s Hispanic segment began in 2014 with the implementation of five pilot companies in Los Angeles, Riverside, Dallas, South Florida and New York.

Thanks to its success, one year later the company decided to expand coverage to ten additional locations. Since last July, Sysco’s Hispanic program has already been operating throughout the United States.

“The results have been very positive. Now we are looking to expand this program at the national level.”

Sysco is investing heavily in the sales force in order to strengthen service for Hispanic restaurants. For instance, the company is hiring bilingual staff with culinary knowledge and insight into Hispanic cultures. It is also developing new markets that reflect the image it wants to project for this segment.

In addition, various strategies have been implemented that Sysco was developing in the general market and which have not yet reached the Hispanic segment.

Some of these new marketing strategies include business reviews, food shows, focus groups and other services that will permit Sysco to better serve to its clients.

In Partnership with Suppliers

At the same time, Sysco is doing very important work to help Hispanic food suppliers improve their business.

“Besides working with large companies, we are also focused on small businesses with authentic products so that we can grow together” said Rondón.

Such is the case with Salsas La Patrona, a Mexican company located in Edinburg, Texas. The company has benefited from being able to open its market in partnership with Sysco.

“We have witnessed the effort Sysco is making to connect with and serve all the people involved in Hispanic food service,”said Nasser Mohamed, manager of La Patrona. “For us, Sysco is a business partner that gives added value and has assisted us in developing our company because it comes and helps us connect with the operators without an additional cost,” said the businessman.

For chef Marcela Pérez, the experience of working with Sysco has been quite interesting. As an experienced restaurant operator, she found that Sysco’s program for the Hispanic segment was the perfect solution for getting the best products she needed in her kitchen.

“The very moment I began to work with Sysco, I asked them for those products necessary for preparing Mexican food, and the fact that they were already able to provide it was surprising,” recalled Pérez. She currently works as corporate chef of Ole Mexican Food, a company that is dedicated to the production of tortillas. The business is also a supplier for Sysco.

Although Sysco’s Program for the Hispanic food segment has gotten off to a very strong start, it has not been an easy task. The company has found that many operators believe that since Sysco is the most important food distribution business in the country, it will not be able to work with them.

“For any company that is going to produce foods, we are able to supply to them — whether they are a restaurant, a school cafeteria, a military base or a hospital. We have the ingredients, the equipment and all the ancillary products. The focus is not on getting them to buy a certain amount of products from us. We are looking for a partner that feels sure that if it makes the change, it’s going to have the comfort and convenience it is looking for,” concluded Rondón.