Hello!

I spent a week celebrating our 15th anniversary doing demos at some of the key stores that helped us get our start and who have supported us wholeheartedly along the way. And the universe gave me the best gift and surprise for our very special quinceañera celebration.

In February of 2010, February 17, to be exact, Papalote defeated Bobby Flay in the burrito episode of Food Network’s Throwdown! with Bobby Flay. The premise of the show was that Bobby Flay would travel to different parts of the country and he would challenge iconic chefs who prepared iconic renditions of iconic regional dishes. The producers would find a popular chef in Boston, for instance, and have Bobby Flay show up at their establishment and surprise them with a throwdown challenge to see who could make the best clam chowder. He would go to Chicago and do a pizza throwdown, or New Orleans for a jambalaya throwdown… you get the idea. So, anyway, long story short, Bobby Flay challenged us to a burrito throwdown in San Francisco...

Not only did we beat Bobby Flay in the burrito throwdown, but the best part was that when he accepted defeat, he said “the salsa is the secret weapon.”

Well, shoot. We opened Papalote in 1999, March 17, to be exact. So, a little over ten years after having opened Papalote Mexican Grill in the San Francisco Misson District there we were, going face to face with Bobby Flay at a time where he was quite famous, a lot of people watched Food Network, and Papalote was getting awesome write ups and comments from the media in general (before all hell broke loose with Yelp, Google, and other Internet and social media platforms gained popularity). 

Soon after we opened Papalote, people discovered the salsa we had created for the concept. The ingredients are the exact same as the salsa that our aunt, Tía Celia, served at the restaurant she opened with her husband Perfecto Lopez in the San Francisco Avenues at 47th and Judah in 1960, I’m not sure what day exactly. I do know that they just recently had a celebration of Celia’s #1 (Tía Celia’s original restaurant), which Celia’s grandchildren, Salvador and Phil, are currently in charge of. Many Celia’s locations followed throughout the years, run by different partners, some related, some simply former employees, and of those about ten Celia’s are still operating throughout the Bay Area, and dozens of offshoots are still thriving up and down the Pacific Coast, mainly in Northern California all the way to Washington state. So, yeah, without a doubt, Papalote absolutely owes its existence to Tía Celia. And yes, our salsa, as I mentioned, has the same ingredients as her salsa. The preparation of our salsa, however, as well as the expression of each ingredient that goes into Papalote Salsa, is vastly different.

The thing is everybody has a favorite Mexican restaurant. And everybody loves the house salsa at their favorite restaurant. And I’m sure the owner of every Mexican restaurant has, at one point of another, heard their customers tell them “You should bottle the salsa!”. I know I heard it all the time, for those first ten years people would tell us how special and unique they thought our salsa was, and that we should bottle it. And I would agree, and say I’d look into it. And I would dream a little. And I would sigh a lot. And then I would go back to the day to day of running a restaurant. Until I heard Bobby Flay say “the salsa is the secret weapon”, that is. 

Look, by 2010 we had already opened our second location at Fulton and Masonic. Still, Bobby Flay endorsing two little restaurants in San Francisco was a little overkill… national exposure for two tiny burrito shops. That’s too much. I wanted to capitalize on the opportunity, yet I didn’t have the experience, the time, or the wherewithal to open more restaurants to take full advantage of Bobby Flay’s endorsement. The salsa, however, could definitely benefit from the publicity if we acted quickly and we launched the store version of the salsa and stroked while the iron was hot.  

The burrito episode of Throwdown! aired in February. By September I had figured out a few options for production, the legal stuff, the nutritional stuff, I designed the label, had the labels printed…I got a warehouse, which came with an office, which came with some used furniture that was still functional (and some, the majority, still is, 15 years later!). We were officially in business by September 15th of 2010 (Which also happens to be the night of the Grito de la Independencia in Mexico and is also the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month here in the United States. Not only that, 2010 was especially momentous because it was the bicentennial anniversary of Mexico’s independence, and to top it off, it was also the centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution).

Check it out, though. 15 years later, if I knew what the hell I was doing, Papalote Salsa should have been sold for some group of investors to have grown it (if you knew the people and the offers I’ve turned down you would dope slap me, fo sho. Now Imagine how Jodi feels. It must drive her crazy, and yet, somehow, she is there by my side. We make a good team. What a life! What a wife!). Papalote Salsa either should have been sold, or I should have folded by now. Or maybe I should be a millionaire like Famous Amos, or Ben and Jerry, or Justin, or Amy, or… you know, one of them millionaires. All I know is that I’m sure my story is frustrating as heck to people in the industry. What’s this guy doing?!? I… I don’t know.

And yet, here we are. Celebrating 15 years of existence. 15 years of making the salsa the way I think it should be made. Without compromising with investors. Without cutting corners. Without needing to sell out. 15 years of carrying on Tía Celia’s legacy. This is NOT to say that if you want to buy the company you shouldn’t make an offer, don’t you go getting’ me wrong, now! These fifteen years, mistakes and all, with all the failures, and all the adventures, are worthy of celebrating. And so, I did.

Starting on Monday, September 15 I did a week of demos at some of the most iconic, most pivotal stores that have helped Papalote Salsa survive and thrive. The theme was quinceañera. I bought a pink tablecloth, I bought some flowers, made some display signs for my little table, and booked me some demos. Last minute I bought a few quinceañera greeting cards to make the display more festive and help illustrate the theme a little better… and then the magic happened. I don’t know why I was so surprised, but as I was telling people that it was our 15th anniversary and giving them different parts of the spiel, you know, “…low sodium, no water, no vinegar, and no sugar added; onions from Oxnard, garlic from Gilroy, Tomatoes from the Valley, vegan, gluten free…” people started signing the cards. I mean, why not, right? It’s my quinceañera, the cards were there, it’s only right for people to feel compelled to share some nice congratulatory words of encouragement and good will, right? So, I kept it going. I brought the cards to all the demos that week, and some pens. Watching people crouch down closer to my little table to write a little thought on one of the cards was very special to me.

I love doing demos because they’re great focus groups. They’re a very efficient way to see what people like and what they think would make our products better. I get to hear directly from the consumer why they love Papalote Salsa, and why some literally hate it. By the way, based on the feedback I’ve received these past couple of years, I’d like to once again announce that a big announcement is coming that is going to make so many people so happy, it’s happening soon, and I’m very excited. This last round of demos corroborates the research and makes me feel great about the decision to make this change. But I digress. Man, I could elaborate so much on each paragraph I’ve written so far, alas, I have to keep it somewhat within the scope of whatever I had in mind when I started writing this blog.

Let me just say, and I’ll finish with this thought, that I am so grateful to so many people and so many stores that have made a little room for us on their shelves. The thrill is still 100% there. I do not take anything for granted. Nothing but gratitude and appreciation. This CPG business is brutal. It’s cruel. It’s unforgiving. It is intense. I have learned so much along the way, and now with all these things that are happening, Ai, tariffs, social media, there’s just so much to take in, so many decisions to be made, it is surreal.

I’m so happy I chose to celebrate doing demos. I got the opportunity to document the love for Papalote Salsas from the buyers, the team members, and, most importantly, the people who buy Papalote Salsa, some of whom ran to my little display table to give me a hug, some to shake my hand, some to share with me their Papalote Salsa stories, some to sign my cards, and some to simply say thank you. Thank ME!?!? No, no, no… thank YOU!!!

You guys, thank you. Nothing but gratitude and appreciation.