Comerica Corner: Mexican Food Specialties, Inc.

Story by: Cris Marshall

Daniel Gutierrez of Mexican Food Specialties, Inc. in Livonia, Michigan has literally grown with his company. A product of familial entrepreneurs: father, uncle, grandfather, great- grandfather, Gutierrez listened to stories about the challenges of owning a business, but still knew it was what he wanted to do as well. His father said “you have to work to get the things you want”, “instilling a good work ethic in me”, says Gutierrez.

STARTING AT the age of 12, Gutierrez worked on the weekends cleaning the warehouse and offices. When he was a little older he would stay at his uncle’s house on the weekends and work at his factory, and then return home to work at his father’s business during the week. At the age of 16 he received his driver’s license and began to run a route in his father’s business, Mexican Food Specialties, Inc.

Gutierrez had already begun dating his future wife (who he would marry at the age of 21 and have three children, two boys and a girl), and thus started his own paint company at the age of 17, having graduated from high school early. He and a few buddies would paint houses inside and out – but he moved on quickly.

At the age of 18 he worked in real estate and finance as a Spanish-speaking employee on the lender side, moved to the broker side, then went back to his dad’s business to run his own route specializing in delivering “fast” tortillas to the local community. As it is at that age, he and his father didn’t see eye to eye so he went back to wholesale lending and did very well – this was before the financial crisis in 2008.

After another quick venture running a medical company he returned to his father’s business, where he stayed. At this point, the company had been extremely “retail heavy” in their business in partnerships with Meijer and Walmart. Their product was not a “long shelf life” product and thus was kept in the refrigerated section.

In 2012 box stores became more in line with the acculturation of products and the creation of an “international foods” aisle. Even after going through a packaging redesign and marketing success, they had to come up with a “shelf stable product”, but were a “little late to the game”. Gutierrez’ father had passed away in 2013 during this transition.

By August, 2014 they were completely out of the refrigerated product market in box stores and have now focused on food service. The company has seen great growth in the current path of delivering to their food service customers – and they continue to develop new ideas, such as home delivery direct to customers. Gutierrez stresses that this would not be possible without the support of a good bank – in their case, Comerica. They were able to finance several moves, new freezers and coolers, and lines of credit.

Mexican Food Specialties, Inc. has moved its entire operation twice. Gutierrez says, “Having a partner, like Comerica, for lending – we were able to accomplish that. We have to keep up with changes in the market, changes in our product, and changes in the way consumers want to receive their product. We couldn’t have done that without financial backing. Right now the biggest issue is wanting to get our product into the hands of the con- sumer quicker – eliminate the middle man. It’s an ever-changing market and we are just trying to keep our product alive.”

Gutierrez advises entrepreneurs just starting out to “just keep at it – keep following your dreams – trust the process – be willing to adapt – if you don’t, you may be out.”