La Costeña Strengthens the Sense of Belonging for Mexicans in the U.S.

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The Mexican canned food company La Costeña wants to expand its presence in the United States with new products and food alternatives; however, the new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, primarily on steel (which is used to make cans), represent a challenge for its strategy.

Alberto Arellano, the company’s new CEO, said that they are currently absorbing the additional costs resulting from these tariff measures.

“Here, we are monitoring what’s happening in this area practically every week. We have to wait until the renegotiations (of the USMCA), which will take place in a month or a month and a half, but internally, we are doing many things to be able to offset any increase that may come in that regard,” he explained.

The executive explained that they are now promoting a comprehensive growth plan for 2030, with the goal of reaching more homes around the world, with the United States being an important foundation of their strategy, with the image of “Mexican pride.”

“Today we see that Mexican chili is in fashion around the world, both in Europe and Asia, in different places (…) The United States is undoubtedly the spearhead of this growth. We have a very important base of compatriots in that market who also have nostalgia for these flavors,” he stated.

Currently, La Costeña exports the chiles category to more than 70 countries and has a portfolio on five continents, but now they want to double their sales in the United States.

Alberto Arellano believes that this is now possible because they see in the Hispanic public a sense of belonging to their roots in the face of the discourse against Mexican migrants in that market.

“We have been in the United States for several decades, and we see that the portfolio we sell there is still limited. We have recently launched very interesting products in Mexico, such as esquites, which practically come in a bag, prepared and ready to eat, as well as products like prepared tamales, which are products that people can’t find in the United States and obviously hold a very important nostalgia for Mexican Americans living there,” he explained.