Today we’d like to introduce you to Oscar Perez Ollervidez.
Hi Oscar, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hola! Well, I was born in Reynosa, Mexico to a Mexican dad and an American mom. I went to McAllen Memorial High School down in the Rio Grande Valley where I graduated from in 2006. After that, I moved to San Antonio for College and pursued a degree in Architecture. I worked in the Architecture and Construction industry for about 10 years before returning to college for a degree in business administration. It was then that I took my passion for food to the next level.
Like I mentioned, I come from the “frontera” between Reynosa, Mexico and McAllen, Texas. Here, BBQs (or as we call them “carnitas asadas”) are a weekly family event. It’s pretty much a weekly tradition. We eat, tell stories, dance and normally have a great time! One of the most important elements of Carnitas Asadas (aside from the meat of course) are the salsas that accompany the delicious taquitos of grilled meats.
So in 2015 and out of my apartment kitchen in San Antonio, Tio Pelon’s Salsita was born. I had taken on a newly-found hobby of food preservation and resorted to a family recipe that I felt needed to be shared with the world! Salsita Norteña Mexicana (North Mexican Style Salsa) straight from the kitchen of my Abuela (grandma) Emma’s ranch. After receiving grandma’s blessing, I shared her salsa publicly on social media and found some overall excitement from family and friends.
I started selling salsa on Facebook to friends and family and well here we are today. It’s now 2022 and Tio Pelon’s Salsita is in about 1000 stores in 19 states nationwide.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. I mean, not knowing what I was getting into, I created a product/brand in an extremely saturated market that has a low profit margin and sells at a small retail price. This means that it is about volume. We have to make sure we sell tens of thousands of jars a month just to operate. One of our biggest obstacles has been learning how to scale up and everything that entails this “growth”. It is not the same making 12 salsas at home and jarring them, than processing over 1000 jars daily in an 8 hour shift. There are many bumps along the road. I’ve had to learn about machines and how to fix them if something goes wrong, learn how to financially manage a manufacturing plant, keep inventories, not keep inventories, struggle with suppliers, struggle with inflation and struggle with the competition on the shelf.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a sauce brand and manufacturer located on the Near West side of San Antonio by Frio and Guadalupe. We manufacture 4 different kinds of products that are sold in retail stores like H-E-B, Central Market, WholeFoods, Sprouts, Market Street, Albertsons, United SuperMarkets, Tom Thumbs and more.
Our Specialties are Mexican Style Sauces or as we like to call them “Salsitas”. Our original sauce, Salsita Emma is the only red salsa on the shelf listing red jalapeños, not tomatoes, as the first ingredient. We are distinguished by a brand that sets us apart from the others and is instantly recognizable. ‘Tio Pelon’ came to be when my first niece was born and I officially turned into a Tio (or uncle). When I combined the word ‘Tio’ with my nickname ‘Pelon’, it had a nice sound to it. The tone was fun and playful and that was when the brand name ‘Tio Pelon’, which translates into “Uncle Baldy”, was born.
Our products are made from fresh ingredients (not frozen or canned ingredients) and cooked down to make delicious sauces for dipping, topping and even as a condiment. Tio Pelon’s Salsitas put a smile on people’s faces every time they taste them. That is why we continue to do what we do! I strive to share my Norteño heritage and share the delicious foods we have to offer in our region.
We share our success with our employees, our customers and our community!
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I have been an entrepreneur and artist since Elementary School. I remember being in kindergarten, I can’t remember my teacher’s name, but I was in Field’s Elementary in McAllen, Texas. My best friend’s name in kindergarten was Richy, short for Richard. I would get Richy to sit down with me on the table and I would give him an outline of a Ninja Turtle face on an 8.5″x11″ sheet of paper to color in and cut out. We would then pierce holes on each side of the cut out and put yard on them to make Ninja Turtle Masks. We would sell to our classmates for 50 cents each and would make enough money for ice cream during lunchtime.
We were 5.
Contact Info:
- Email: oscar@tiopelonsalsita.
com - Website: www.tiopelonsalsita.
com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/tiopelons. salsita/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/tiopelonsalsita - Twitter: https://twitter.com/
tiopelonsalsita - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/UC9QRivk-v-RN_m_ EZBq-IjQ
