The company was founded in 1936 in a small storefront in
Lower Manhattan by Don Prudencio Unanue and his wife Carolina as a food
distributor of Spanish olives, olive oil and sardines. Today Goya Foods – still
family owned – has over 3,000 employees with offices in New Jersey, Illinois,
Florida, California, Texas, Puerto Rico and Spain.

From modest origins and intent on building upon its rich heritage, the company
now has more than 1,600 product offerings and distributed brands representing
all of Latin America. 

In addition to new product development, the company recently
added over one million square feet to its manufacturing and packaging capacity.
As company President Robert Unanue says, “Goya has done a total overhaul of our automation and improved our
manufacturing and packaging technology.”

He continues
with this piece of advice, “Know your technology: Colleges today don’t
just look at your SAT scores, they look at how well-rounded you are. You need
to have the technical background, but also be able to fit into the culture of
the company you work for.” As he says, “Education is very important to
Goya and vital to the development of our youth and to the strengthening of our
communities.” 

The company
has stepped up to the plate in education with various initiatives including a
new nationwide scholarship fund for graduating high school seniors interested
in culinary arts and food sciences. “As the leader in Latin American food,
our new Culinary Arts Scholarship Program is one of our educational pillars,
essential to the fulfillment of our mission to celebrate, nurture, and preserve
Goya’s diverse culinary heritage and future,” says Executive Vice
President Peter Unanue. “We pride ourselves on authenticity, high-quality,
and culinary traditions and wanted to establish a scholarship that would give
students the opportunity to pursue their passion in the culinary arts and food
sciences.” 

With a family-oriented approach, the company refers to
its consumers as La Gran Familia Goya and actively participates in important
community events. They sponsor festivals, parades, domino tournaments and
children’s sports events. In 2011, the company developed the Goya Gives campaign and will donate over 2 million pounds of
food to local and national organizations.

It’s fitting that this year Goya Foods was recognized,
and the Unanues were honored as Grand Marshalls of the two most important Latin
events in New York City – The National Puerto Rican Parade and the Hispanic
Parade.  The recognitions have poured
from around the country culminating in a special presentation at the White
House. After achieving their 75th Anniversary milestone even
President Obama had to admit, ‘Si es Goya, Tiene que ser bueno!’