Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to SalsaQueen Zapata. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi SalsaQueen, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

After my 2nd divorce, I found myself needing to provide for my 7 children. With no education (not even a high school diploma) or work experience, my options were very limited. I received half of a tax refund, roughly $3000, and had a choice to make. I could either spend the money on clothes, travel, etc. or risk it in a new business. When you have no money and have never started or ran a business, it was a huge risk, but one that I took since I really had no other options for income generation. I literally put all of my money into the company and haven’t looked back since. The company is now a multi-million dollar business and provides for me and my children, something I could only have hoped for back then…..and never imagined how fast and large it’d grow.

SalsaQueen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Salsa Queen was started by me, a single mother to provide for my 7 children. I considered a number of different businesses, but none ‘spoke to me’. Cooking and salsas are my passion so it was natural to start a salsa company. After testing the market by selling salsas via Facebook for a few months, I realized that there was demand. At first, salsas were made around the kitchen and sold at local farmers markets where I built-up a loyal following because of the premium quality and unique taste profiles. I went to a local farmers market, which was a great place to test out different versions and get immediate customer feedback. Every week I had new salsas to try out and by the end of summer, I had 3-5 really solid and in demand salsas. In 9 short years, Salsa Queen is now in nearly 1500 stores across 30 states by staying true to our products and customers.

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

In 2020, just before Covid hit, I bought out my business partner. I then changed our distribution strategy so we could expand into more markets and signed the lease on a kitchen 4x the size. Covid really through a curve ball, but we were able to make it work and stay on track.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

For us, once people taste the product they fall in love with them…..and once they hear my story, they create an emotional bond. Our biggest challenge is spreading the word. We’ve found that instore sampling is probably the most effective way to do both. People taste the salsas and hear the story first hand. It’s helped us grow the customer base extremely fast and create a very strong brand with our customers.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.salsaqueen.com
• Instagram: salsa.queen
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreshSalsaQueen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salsa-queen
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SalsaQueen_Real
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SalsaQueen
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/salsa-queen-west-valley-city?osq=salsa+queen