We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cecilia Panichelli. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cecilia below.

Cecilia, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

The story behind Cocina 54 truly goes back to where we came from. It’s an undisputed fact that empanadas are the most widespread snack in Latin America, they are basically the taste of our culture! We grew up eating it, and we wanted our children to experience the same flavors of childhood that we did. Immigrating from Argentina, we began to crave empanadas but couldn’t find them anywhere in stores. So, our whole family would gather in the kitchen and we would make batches on batches of empanadas to save in the freezer for the week. Convenience was a key player here. We found that we could munch on them at any time of the day… which was so great with a house full of hungry kids.

We soon realized that there are families all over who were seeking convenient snack options that still had better-for-you ingredients. There was an obvious gap in the market to fill with food that fits the average consumer’s lifestyle. From there, the idea for Cocina 54 was born.

Once we officially started the company, we made sure to figure out a way to produce empanadas that still had fresh ingredients and a made-from-scratch recipe. Culture was our biggest inspiration. In order to create a connection between what people in Argentina eat and what people in America eat, we married various ingredients together to create truly Inspired flavors.

Culture is shown in our packaging as well. We wanted our customers to both tastes and visually feel like they are in Argentina. The art you see on our empanada packages is a style called fileteado porteño, you would see it on all of the shops and vendors in Buenos Aires! So we thought, what better way to bring that feeling to customers than this?

Of course, the question we get most often is “why the name Cocina 54?”. We actually named the company after the area code in Argentina – which is the number 54. Even from the beginning, we knew that’s what it had to be. It’s a simple tribute to our roots. At first, we were going to name the company Kitchen 54 but got the feedback that Cocina 54 just sounds cooler. Plus, we are native Spanish speakers so it really just made sense.

The result of all of this is a tribute to where we came from and where we are today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Cecilia shares that it is an undisputed fact that empanadas are the most widespread snacks in Latin America. They are a taste of her culture. She grew up eating fresh, homemade empanadas, and once she immigrated from Argentina, she craved her childhood snack but could never find them in stores.

To remedy that problem, she and her entire family would gather in the kitchen and make batched upon batches of empanadas to eat and save in the freezer for a convenient snack during the week. They were the perfect treat that reminded her of home and helped give her kids the same enjoyable experience she had growing up.

It didn’t take long for her to realize her family wasn’t the only family who loved to enjoy fresh, made-from-scratch and convenient snacks — why couldn’t those snacks also be inspired by her Argentinian culture?

As an experienced consumer packaged goods sales and marketing professional of over 15 years, Cecilia knew there was an obvious gap in the market she and her family could fill. In that moment, Cocina 54 was born. She and her family officially started the company and began to produce empanadas that created a connection between her Argentinian and American roots through various ingredients and inspired flavors.

Even the art of the empanada packages represents Argentina! Fileteado porteño is a style of art found across the shops in Buenos Aires and can also be found on every Cocina 54 package. It is Cecilia’s way of bringing the feeling of Argentina to her customers.

It was important to Cecilia that her empanadas, no matter how big the company became, always remained just like her made-from-scratch recipe. So, she partnered with the right vendors who could help her scale the company without sacrificing the quality of her ingredients.
Using all fresh ingredients and olive oil is what provides her empanadas with an incredible taste. Cecilia’s Cocina 54 empanadas are certified gluten-free and pre-baked for convenience. They can be found in the freezer aisle at HEB and at Central Market in the Dallas area.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Because of COVID, we had to revisit how we work. We used to do many in-store demos, talking to customers and telling them about our product. That’s how people bought the product and tried it for the first time that way. So the question became, ‘how can we a little brand connect with the consumer at home. If they go to the store, how do we tell our story? How do we connect with them?’ People started ordering online, and we didn’t anticipate that at the beginning. Initially, we were set up to be a wholesale brand. With COVID, people were finding us on Amazon or trying to buy directly on our website. So we had to shift our business model. Our customers want the simplicity of ordering online and getting the product delivered to their homes.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We had been making empanadas over the weekend as a pilot test while working full-time and raising our 2 girls. We had been able to make 350 empanadas/day, and we were excited, but when we got our first HEB order, they needed 50,000 empanadas. It was exhilarating and a huge learning experience, setting up a co-packer in record time and sealing those empanadas by hand because our shrink wrapper got delayed in China.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cocina-54.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocina54empanadas/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cocina54empanadas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/16177255/admin/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04PxlwL46Ge8ND3PKf4MuQ