Ep. 66: Siete Foods on Paleo Tortillas and Business Advice!

Siete Foods founders Veronica and Miguel join me to talk about their growing business, incredibly delicious (and versatile) Paleo-friendly tortillas, and product-to-market advice.

We’re back with our 66th episode of the Fed+Fit Podcast! Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode and be sure to subscribe on iTunes!

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Episode 66 Links:

• Order Siete Foods tortillas online HERE.
• Find Siete Foods on Facebook HERE.
• Find Siete Foods on Instagram HERE.

Episode 66 Transcription

Today I’m talking with Veronica and Miguel of Siete foods about their mission, current products, which are some pretty incredible paleo-friendly tortillas; advice they have for someone who wants to bring a product to market; rebranding; and their favorite ways to enjoy their awesome tortillas.

Cassy Joy: Well, today we are back with an interview that I am just so excited about. I’ve been working with these folks about wanting to bring them on the podcast for a little while, because I just love this company. I love what their up to, I love the mission and the foundation, and it just feels like; I don’t know if they’ll have me, but I feel like I’m a part of their family. I’m claiming them anyways {laughs}. I know they hear that a lot.

Veronica Garza: Yes!

Miguel Garza: Well you are a Garcia, so.

Cassy Joy: That’s true!

Veronica Garza: Close enough!

Miguel Garza: Yeah, close enough.

Cassy Joy: {laughs} Oh good, well that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Well I am so excited about introducing you guys to Siete foods; specifically, Miguel and Veronica Garza, two members of the family. I’ll let them tell you more about their company, and their products, and their mission. But if you haven’t already seen Siete foods, they have these incredible paleo-friendly tortillas. They have one that is nut free made with cassava flour, and one that is made with almond flour. And I’m sure these guys can jump in and either correct anything that I’m saying that’s wrong, or add all the good details, but they’re just wonderful. I have a pack in my freezer at all times; heat them up; I love to make breakfast tortilla tacos with them and all kinds of great things. So I’m excited to have you guys on the show, and welcome to the Fed and Fit podcast!

Veronica Garza: Thank you! We’re excited to be chatting with you.

Miguel Garza: Yeah, thank you so much for having us.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, oh my gosh. My pleasure. Ok, well let’s go ahead and jump into it. If you guys want to go ahead and tell us a little bit about Siete foods; maybe your mission, how y’all got your start, what current products you do have, and where folks can find them just to cover the bases, and then we’ll get into other fun conversation topics.

Veronica Garza: Ok great. So, our business has been around for a couple of years now. We really got started with an original product; an almond flour tortilla about 6 years ago; actually a little longer now. Maybe 7 years. So I started making an almond flour tortilla 7 years ago; I was living in Laredo for many years. I was dealing with a couple of different autoimmune conditions, one of them being lupus. The other is ITP, which is basically low platelet counts. I wasn’t feeling very well, just always sick; often on medication; prednisone, just not taking care of my health, or just not feeling well in general.

One of my older brothers, Rob, had suggested that I start following a grain-free diet. He had done a lot of research, and read that it could alleviate a lot of autoimmune symptoms. So I started doing that, and I did start feeling a lot better. Pretty much all of my lupus symptoms went away. It was great because I felt better, but there was definitely some stuff missing in my diet that just made it a little annoying and difficult.

Miguel Garza: It was sad; let’s be honest.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: It was a sad; I mean, I’m sure most people who are listening know that tacos in lettuce, while they are great, I don’t want to make anybody feel bad. They’re also very; can be sometimes a little sad when everybody else is eating tortillas.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: Yeah, and he knows that because when I started eating grain free, my whole family started doing it with me. So we’re a family of 7; 5 kids, we’re all adults now, married and grown up, not living in our parent’s home anymore. But just when we would get together on weekends and for holidays and stuff, everybody started doing what I was doing sort of just to help me. They knew that it would make it easier if we were all following that diet, so I didn’t have to be the one person that was eating a piece of lettuce on the side when we were cooking fajitas in the backyard. So he understands how difficult that was initially when we were all trying to eat this grain free diet.

So I’ve always liked cooking; never done it professionally, never studied, but I just got into the kitchen and thought about the stuff that I could eat, what I couldn’t eat. Growing up I always saw my grandmother making tortillas, and loved them. Other than ours, {laughs} those are the best tortillas I’ve ever tasted. And I tried to develop one of my own. Because I couldn’t have corn, I couldn’t have flour; but I knew that I could eat nuts, and that’s how the first tortilla came to be.

I was hesitant to let anybody try them, because I’m always my hardest critic. I did let my family taste them, and they liked them. And it was a big deal that when my father tried them, he liked them. You know, he likes his Mexican food the way that it’s supposed to be, so it’s a big deal that everybody liked it, they were on board with it. I started introducing them to other friends and family members, and they kind of caught on and people started asking for them regularly, and I found myself in the kitchen on the weekends making them for hours, because people were asking for them.

So finally, a couple of years ago my mother and I decided to turn this into a business; this was really at my brother Miguel’s suggestion. He’s always been sort of the entrepreneur of the family, and he thought it was a good time. We knew that there were a lot of people out there who were in a similar situation as me, couldn’t eat grains and we knew that there was a market for them. We just wanted people to be able to try them, and we wanted to get them into more hands. So, somehow, my brother sneaked his way into the business. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: And he’s now CEO of our company. And we have another tortilla on the market now, as you mentioned, the cassava and coconut tortilla, and we’re now in many states nationwide selling our products and just really excited that there are so many people that can try them now, and just the response that we’re getting is great. People are so excited that they can now eat tortillas when they haven’t eaten them in years. We get emails like that all the time; people saying thank you, you know, my child or myself, I haven’t had a taco in 10 years, so this is great. It’s a really exciting thing for us to be able to do.

Cassy Joy: That’s awesome. It just sounds so rewarding. The story of your family all joining in back then and following a paleo protocol at the same time as you is heartwarming in and of itself; and then to turn around and make something so wonderful like this to share with everybody else, it really is like you’re opening up; you guys, something that impresses me with Siete foods is you guys really lead with the heart. It’s very obvious and apparent in your business and your products. So I just think they’re incredible products, but you guys have a lot going on behind the scenes that make it even more special. So congratulations on a successful launch! I understand being your own worst critic when it comes to coming up with new recipes!

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: There are things that, to this day, I have cooked for myself hundreds of times, and maybe it will wind up on a social media platform, and someone will ask for the recipe {laughs} and I’ll be like; really? You want that? {laughs}

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: So I understand. That’s great. Well; personally, as a consumer also thank you for putting it out to market {laughs}.

Veronica Garza: Thank you.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, that’s wonderful. So remind me, where you’re from originally.

Veronica Garza: From Laredo; it’s about 2 hours south of San Antonio where you’re at.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Veronica Garza: Right on the border of Mexico and Texas.

Cassy Joy: Yep.

Veronica Garza: So border town.

Cassy Joy: Good old border town. I think we may have talked about this at that dinner in Austin, but I have family there as well.

Veronica Garza: Right.

Cassy Joy: And then you’re based out of Austin now, is that correct?

Veronica Garza: We are.

Miguel Garza: Yes.

Cassy Joy: Very cool. And I think most folks can find you in Whole Foods, is that right?

Veronica Garza: Yeah.

Miguel Garza: Yes. Whole Foods, Natural Grocers; we just launched into Earth Fare if you’re listening and you’re in the southeast part of the country, and some other smaller independent natural food stores across the country, as well.

Cassy Joy: Very exciting. And if folks can’t find you in the store, can they order online

Miguel Garza: They can definitely order online.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: That’s Sietefoods.com.

Cassy Joy: Awesome.

Veronica Garza: And for the non-Spanish speakers, that’s siete like the number 7, S-I-E-T-E.

Cassy Joy: That’s probably a very good thing to share! {laughs}

Miguel Garza: Yeah. S-I-E-T-E foods.com.

Veronica Garza: That’s right.

Cassy Joy: Nice. That’s very smart. Well that’s awesome, and I do recommend ordering online if this is something that intrigues you. I’m going to get; I have more questions for them, but before I forget. Because the tortillas really do freeze well, so I think it’s a good idea; I like to have, like I said, a stash and whenever I need some I just put a bag in the refrigerator and let them defrost overnight. Like if I’m going to do a big breakfast taco display the next morning for guests that are visiting. Awesome!

Well, I would love to pick your brain a little bit on some stuff on the business side, because there are a lot of listeners who either they’ve been blogging for a while, or maybe they’re thinking about blogging; and there are also some folks who, in this vein, in this paleo-friendly vein, there are products that people want to bring to market but it can seem like a really intimidating process. It’s just very murky waters if you’ve never done it before. And I would just love to know if you guys have any generic advice for somebody who may want to bring a food product to market. What is that journey like?

Miguel Garza: Well, I think to touch on just the whole mindset that you have to be in. we have something that we’ve started saying in our office, which has kind of been a family mantra and we just never really knew it. Basically, whatever you do, be all in.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Miguel Garza: And I think as a; I don’t know, the word I’m going to use is entrepreneur, but even think a lot of people are using that word these days. If you want to put a product or service to market, it’s kind of like having a baby; and I don’t have a baby, but I’ve always heard that there’s never a right time to have a baby.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: And I would say the same is probably true for brining a product to market. You can do a ton of market research, and you can do different things that will maybe make you think that you have a better chance of surviving, but the only real way to do is to just do it. And Nike didn’t pay me to say that, either, so I hope they don’t get mad that I said that.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: But that’s really just; because that was definitely something. You know, my sister created this product somewhere in the 2009-2010 timeframe, and we or she at least wanted to bring it to market from then until we did in 2014, and there was always a hurdle. You need a commercial kitchen; you need to get all of these permits and licenses; and it’s too hard; and what if it doesn’t work, and all of these mental barriers that we put in to our mind. But I think once we decided; oh well, which one will we regret more, doing the business or not doing the business, and it was like, not doing the business that we would regret more.

So I mean I’m not telling people to pour their life savings into something, but I definitely think the biggest hurdle is just making a decision that yeah this business may not work out, but I at least did it, and then I can go back to my regular 9 to 5 if it doesn’t work out.

Veronica Garza: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I remember my brother telling me that when we were getting started. He was like; just think about how you’re going to feel if you don’t do it. And this scared me a little bit; somebody is going to put something out there that is just exactly like what you’re doing, and you’re going to feel horrible that you didn’t do it yourself. So I think that is definitely one of the reasons why I decided to just jump in and do it.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm. That’s great advice, and I really identify with that. I said this a bunch on the blog before, so long time listeners have heard this; but when I decided to start my blog, I actually launched in the summer of 2011. But I had my name picked out a year in advance, and I knew I wanted to do it. And it was just a food blog; I wasn’t even trying to sell anything at that point! But I was nervous. I was nervous that the market was crowded; or, you know, who am I to get out there and bring something, have content for folks. And I finally jumped in, and I decided; I launched it when I was 25 because I thought; well, 25 is a good time {laughs} to do something like this.

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: But you know, it really is scary. But I think that if you; and it took me a while. It took me about 3 years before I really felt like I had something unique enough to package. Virtually package, in my case, because it’s a nutrition food and fitness program that Juli Bauer and I collaborate on. But it took me 3 years to really figure out what that was, where as you kind of entered with this awesome, unique product. There was a need in the market, and you knew that, and you went for it. And I think that if anyone is listening and you do have that thing that the world doesn’t have yet, then you owe it to yourself to go for it. You have to give it a try, I think. Whatever that balance looks like for you, of course, is a personal decision but definitely go for it. It’s scary for everybody.

You know, I think that when folks see something that’s successful, we tend to think; “oh, well it must have been easy for them.” {laughs} Because look, they’re in Whole Foods, and they have this beautiful branding; and oh, they’re coming out with more products. Oh my gosh, they just opened up a gorgeous new warehouse in Austin, Texas. It just must be easy for them. {laughs}

Veronica Garza: Definitely not.

Cassy Joy: Yeah! Definitely not. There’s work, and deciding that you’re all in, just like Miguel said, that has to go into making something a success. Well that’s really, really great advice .Speaking more about your success and journey to where you guys are now; I know that you rebranded, I don’t know how long ago it was, but you rebranded your name at least. Was there a logo change that went with that or not; I’m not sure. I know that that’s something that really intimidates people, at least when picking a business name. I get emails a lot from folks who just want advice on; “well, what name should I go with. Should I brand my name; should I brand this other thing that I’ve thought of? What about a logo?” And they’re afraid to start before they have this perfect name. And I would just love to get your opinion on rebranding and what that process was like, and if there ever is a good time to do it or you just have to go for it.

Miguel Garza: For sure. Well I think just speaking from a brand name perspective, because this, so it was like a long process for us. The original brand name, “Must be Nutty”, which we try not to use anymore at all so people don’t get confused, it was because I am a; so me and my sister are polar opposites, because she’s a perfectionist, and I am, like, a, like we need to move as fast as we can.

Veronica Garza: Just do it.

Miguel Garza: So we were sitting there like; oh, what’s a great brand name? And you can literally throw every name on the board and you can go through a year-long exercise to find the perfect brand. And in my mind, you’ve already lost very, very valuable time doing that. So the original name was like; oh, well we’re starting a business, and it’s nuts, so we must be nuts for starting a business. Well, “must be nutty”, ah-ha-ha, that’s kind of cute. Alright let’s do it.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: Let’s go make that. And it was really because we had begun to knock on retailers doors, and we asked them; hey we have this product. And I actually told my sister; hey, make me some product and I’m going to go around. I’m just going to knock on local doors, send emails, try and do anything to see if we can get a customer. Let’s see if we’re crazy for doing this. And Wheatville food coop, which is a local coop here in Austin, was so supportive that they said; as soon as you come up with a brand name, and have a label, and have a product that you’re ready to put out there, we’re ready to take it. Like, just go do it and come back and we’ll sell it on the shelves.

Cassy Joy: Awesome.

Veronica Garza: Yeah, at this point we didn’t even have a company. We had nothing.

Miguel Garza: Yeah, so; it was like, oh ok, we just need to move fast. We didn’t have time to really think. We didn’t even have time to think; well what can this company actually do? And it wasn’t until through some mentors that we really started to examine; ok, what kind of company do we want to be. Do we want to be a grain-free bakery products company? And we kind of thought about that for a little bit. We were like, well, maybe. Because there are some other things that we would want to do.

And I say “we” very loosely, because my sister creates all the products, and I’m like; I’m basically my sister’s hype-man. I’m the one jumping around telling people how awesome stuff is. So, yeah, we decided no, grain free baking; we’re not a baking family. We don’t even know anything about that. We kept coming back to; well, you know, we are Mexican American, and we can’t fake that. That is authentically us, and it’s much easier to be authentic as a brand than to try and be something you’re not. It will just come natural to you. So we decided, probably about a year and two months ago; ok, well we’re going to be a Mexican food company, and we’re going to own that.

And then once we decided that, it was like; ok, now we have to come up with a name. And we really threw every name up on the board. And we took a lot into consideration; I would say we still probably over thought it. But then we just went with; so we had a gym in Laredo called G7, and so we were like; ok, we’re already owning this 7 thing. Siete, that sounds kind of cool. And then we even through the process of; because people put a lot of thought into brand names. And it’s like; well, you know, like Chipotle Mexican Grill. They’re a pretty big deal, right?

Cassy Joy: Right.

Miguel Garza: And they named their company after a pepper. And how confusing is that, right? Chipotle Mexican Grill, but they totally owned that brand name. And I think that’s the biggest thing; like, ok. Fed and Fit. You could put those words together, but then you, as an individual has owned that brand so much that you’re the one that gave meaning to it.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Miguel Garza: Like, you could name your company anything. And I don’t mean to say that your name is meaningless, by any means.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: I’m just saying that the company; the company or the person is what creates the authenticity in the brand. So I think it is a very daunting task, but once you realize that the customer service is what creates the brand, that the content is what creates the brand. That the product, or the service generally; all of those things create the brand. Because Google is a billion dollar company, and I forget, it’s something having to do with a math, something to dealing with a number as to how they named their company. But it doesn’t matter. That’s just now an Easter egg to what their brand actually is. They’ve become a verb.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Miguel Garza: And they could have called themselves really anything, but they product they were creating and the vision they had for their company was what created the brand.

Cassy Joy: Awesome. Man, you killed that answer, Miguel! {laughs}

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs} I’ve been waiting for that.

Cassy Joy: have you?

Miguel Garza: Building that. {laughs}

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughs} No, that’s great. I think it really, really is great. You know, I remember; my sister is a Texas country music singer, and when she was trying to pick a stage name, she; I mean, they talked about it for a solid year about what name she chose. And just to your point; it didn’t matter. It really, really didn’t matter at the end of the day, because Kimberly is Kimberly. And people don’t find her because they really like the name Kimberly Dunn. You know; they find her because they like her music, which is her product. And they stay because she’s this vivacious, fun, entertaining, positive girl.

Miguel Garza: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: So, yeah. Man. 10-4! That was great!

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: Awesome. My mom will be proud of me. If my mom is listening to this, she’s like, maybe clapping.

Veronica Garza: Crying! She’s going to be crying.

Miguel Garza: Yeah, she might be crying, too.

Cassy Joy: Tears of joy.

Miguel Garza: Uh-huh.

Cassy Joy: Oh, that’s really beautiful. Hi mom! {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Ok, awesome. Ok, well let’s shift gears again really quickly, because there’s no way I could top that. What; I want to talk a little bit more about your tortillas. So what are y’all’s personal favorite ways to enjoy the two different types of tortillas that you have? I have now a couple of very, very biased favorite ways to enjoy them. One of them is the almond one as an empanada. {laughs} Because.

Miguel Garza: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: When we were; just so you guys know what I’m talking about. When we were in Austin for PaleoFx, the Siete family was very, very gracious and hosted a few of us for a dinner. And they put together; I’m sorry if I’m saying anything I shouldn’t say. But

Miguel Garza: Perfectly fine.

Cassy Joy: I’m a share-all kind of girl!

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: They hosted us for a 5-course dinner, and each course featured one of the two tortillas. And it blew us away; it was so delicious. The cassava flour tortillas were fried up into tortilla chips; I think if I put a bowl of those tortilla chips in front of my dad, and next to something from his favorite Mexican food restaurant, I don’t think he could tell which one is paleo-friendly. I really don’t.

Veronica Garza: Awesome, thank you.

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: They were killer! They were so killer! And then the dessert course; I mean, they were all great, but the dessert course was that empanada. And I think; did it have a guava filling?

Veronica Garza: It did, yeah. And cream cheese.

Miguel Garza: I think it did. And let’s be honest, because …

Veronica Garza: We can’t take that credit!

Miguel Garza: Yeah, the tortilla made that good, but it was really; so my best friend, and I think I introduced him to you guys.

Cassy Joy: Yes.

Miguel Garza: Andres. He works for a local; well, they’re not local, but a start up here in Austin, and he’s their chef, and he actually had a, he was the executive chef in a restaurant in New York. It was a Mexican tapas restaurant, and so he kind of; I think it was guava filling, but he’s the man. He’s the one that made that happen.

Cassy Joy: Oh my gosh. Well he blew us away; both of your powers combined. It was a very, you know {laughs} it was an awesome moment.

Miguel Garza: It was insane, yeah. And I just…

Veronica Garza: Still dreaming about it.

Miguel Garza: Two days ago, I was like; dude, I’m going to make your ribeye ceviche, I bet you I can do it. And I tried, and it was ok, but I mean, I don’t know how he did it. I really don’t. I did exactly what he told me to do, and I was telling my wife; oh my gosh, you’re going to love this!

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: I’m going to make it, and you’re going to love it.

Veronica Garza: He’s always very confident. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: Yeah, I am. And so, I made it, and she opted for the burger patty instead.

Cassy Joy: {laughing}

Veronica Garza: {laughing}

Miguel Garza: {laughing}

Cassy Joy: Oh man. Well, if your chef friend is available next year, I think you could sell tickets and make a killing. {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs} Yeah.

Cassy Joy: Because, it was killer. And even if that doesn’t work out, just buckets of those empanadas would go fast.

Miguel Garza: {laughs} Oh yeah.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, sorry. So side track. {laughs} But I would love to know what are y’all’s favorite ways to use your tortillas. Or maybe what are some of the coolest recipes that you’ve seen come across the bow from folks who have bought your tortillas?

Veronica Garza: Gosh, well I kind of use them just as a bread replacement. Obviously, a tortilla replacement; that’s the obvious one. But I find myself, and thankfully I have access to them every day, but I use them every day to make just little sandwiches. Or you know in the evenings I might use it as a pizza crust; throw some toppings on there, throw it in the oven. I’ve used them to make lasagna. So pretty much anything bread, noodle replacement, you can use the tortillas. So I don’t know if I have a favorite recipe; that’s just kind of my general go-tos.

Cassy Joy: Those are good ones.

Miguel Garza: I actually do have a favorite recipe, because I feel like I’m really good at making this thing.

Cassy Joy: Let’s hear it!

Miguel Garza: So, on Sunday mornings. Well, we recently found out that my wife is allergic to eggs, sadly.

Veronica Garza: Me too!

Miguel Garza: And breakfast is like her favorite meal of the day, so I’m not a huge egg person anyway, but I’m not eating eggs anymore, either. And so what I’ve started to do is I’ll either take these already sliced sweet potatoes, or I’ll take sweet potato noodles and I’ll sauté them for just a little bit. And then I add in chorizo from Whole Foods.

Cassy Joy: Mmmm.

Miguel Garza: Which is just spiced really, really well. And so it’s not really much work, because I just let the chorizo cook in the pan, and then I heat up the cassava coconut tortillas right on top of the gas flame on the stove, so they kind of get a black edge on the outside and they get a little crispy on the edges, but the middle is very pliable. So a chorizo sweet potato in that as a taco is like hands down my favorite thing.

Cassy Joy: Dang! {laughs}

Miguel Garza: But the most impressive thing that I’ve seen is there is a woman, a chef, I think she goes by Chef Lisa Cooks on Instagram, and she made an enchilada casserole; so it was like a tortilla and some cheese and something else, and then another tortilla and some meat and something else, and then a tortilla on top of that. And from a beauty thing, I’d never seen anything prettier. She made it about a year ago, and I do a lot of the Instagram stuff, and I just remember seeing it come through and just being blown away.

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: An enchilada casserole; never tasted it, but Chef Lisa Cooks out on the East Coast is making it happen.

Cassy Joy: I really hope she listens to this podcast {laughs} and she’s like, “oh my gosh!” {laughing}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: That’s awesome. You know, truth be told, enchilada casserole is on my list of things to develop with your tortillas.

Miguel Garza: Make it happen!

Veronica Garza: I have done it before, I’ll tell you, but my food hardly ever looks pretty so you won’t see it on Instagram. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: I cook more for function.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, no.

Veronica Garza: I don’t know how you bloggers do it. You put out these amazing, beautiful looking plates.

Cassy Joy: Well I make two different meals to tell you the truth. {laughs} Because the running joke used to be in my family that if they’re coming over for dinner at my house, they better be prepared to eat cold food {laughing}. Because…

Veronica Garza: Because you’ve got to take a bunch of pictures first?

Cassy Joy: Exactly! Because we have to take a bunch of pictures. And if it’s in the winter, we’re going to be having dinner at 4 p.m., because it’s too dark after that.

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: So if there are photos happening, usually it’s not for a meal. But all the trial runs get served up in unflattering light. {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: That’s awesome.

Cassy Joy: Oh that’s fun. Well that’s really, really cool. Ooh, you know what else would be really delicious? Someone else should do this too. Maybe me, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go while. Bunuelos. Have you tried anything?

Veronica Garza: We have, every Christmas, we make Bunuelos with our almond flour tortillas. Actually, the cassava ones I’ve done too. So, for those of you who don’t know what that is; you take, and you can use our tortillas, take either an almond or cassava tortilla and heat up some oil in a pan, so you just lightly pan fry it, use some coconut oil and once you take it out of the oil, just sprinkle it with whatever sugar you want to use, coconut sugar, and cinnamon. And it is delicious. It’s like a sweet tostada.

Cassy Joy: Oh my goodness.

Veronica Garza: It’s a traditional recipe in Mexico; everybody eats bunuelos.

Cassy Joy: I haven’t had a bunuelos in so long. I just got so excited. {laughs}

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Veronica Garza: Yes. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Oh my gosh, that’s going to happen.

Veronica Garza: You have to be careful with those, though, because I can sit there and eat like 5 of them in one sitting.

Cassy Joy: Yeah!

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Well, they come in bags of like 25, you know!

Veronica Garza: Uh-huh.

Miguel Garza: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: So, how can you not polish that off? {laughs}

Veronica Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Just kidding. That’s a no-brakes food for me, for sure. That’s awesome. Ok, well last question I have for you guys, and then I’ll let you get on to your day. I know you’ve got a lot of things going on. I know y’all are constantly working; you have these amazing tortillas, and you take a long time to make sure that the products you do put out are top notch. Do you have any hints? Are y’all thinking about expanding your product list in the future; what bones can you throw me? Because I’m really excited.

Miguel Garza: Yeah, so very soon, I don’t know when this podcast will be airing.

Cassy Joy: It will come out next Monday, which will be people listening, this is Monday the 27th of June.

Miguel Garza: Awesome. Well in probably about a month, month and a half there will be another tortilla coming to market, and I mean there aren’t many hints that I can give to it.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Miguel Garza: But you guys will know about it when it comes out. And I think it’s kind of important; we were talking about brand earlier and why we decided to call ourselves Siete foods, or Siete family foods. It was because we have this grand vision of becoming the healthy Mexican food company for the natural food space, so the natural food space is Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, coops of the world. And so that’s an entire market. Not that we’ll never sell outside of that market, we just want to be the; our big, hairy, audacious goal is to be the healthy Mexican food company for natural food. So I’ve told people; so let’s say somebody like Annie’s organic.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Miguel Garza: I consider Annie’s Organic to be like kind of more traditional American food.

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Miguel Garza: We want to have; we want to be cross-category similar to Annie’s just with; if it’s Mexican food, I wouldn’t put it out of the question of things we’ve either considered or things that could be coming to market down the line. So there’s definitely a lot of exciting things happening for Siete from a food perspective.

Cassy Joy: Oh my gosh; that is so dang exciting! As a Garcia, I can’t tell you how many recipes I would like to make, but I don’t have; I can’t.

Miguel Garza: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: I can’t even adapt them to a paleo lifestyle so they can even go on my blog, because some of the basic food products that you; I mean, I can’t even go into it. I have to be roasting and boiling down chili peppers to make some of these recipes, and folks just aren’t going to do that.

Miguel Garza: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: So, oh my gosh that’s so exciting! Well, I’m on the edge of my seat literally {laughs} I can’t wait. I know you’re going to crush it. Anything you ever need from me, please know I’m here for you.

Veronica Garza: Thank you!

Miguel Garza: Awesome. I love it.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, me too. Well thank you guys for coming on the show. It’s really been a pleasure. And for all of your listeners, remember you can find them at Sietefoods.com. Did I get that right?

Veronica Garza: Yep.

Miguel Garza: You got it right.

Cassy Joy: {laughs} Ok. Sietefoods.com. you can definitely always order their stuff online if you cannot find it in a store near you. And as always I will provide the direct links in the show notes on my blog, https://fedandfit.com. So you can go there, you’ll be able to see a full transcript of today’s show in case you were only able to listen to half of it and you wanted to read the rest. You can find all the pertinent information there as well as where to follow these guys on social media. Thanks again Veronica and Miguel for joining me on the show today. It’s really been an pleasure, and I really do wish you guys the best. I know you’re going to crush it, and we’re going to say we knew you when you just had the two tortillas!

Veronica Garza: {laughs} Thanks so much for having us, it’s been fun.

Miguel Garza: {laughs} Awesome, thank you Cassy, we really appreciate it.

Cassy Joy: Oh my gosh, it’s my pleasure. We’ll be back again next week everybody.