We were lucky to catch up with Cynthia Duran recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Cynthia with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I get my work ethic from my mother. After my parents got divorced, my mother needed to keep three jobs so we could keep a roof over our heads. Seeing how hard she worked taught me that you must do the work to get to where you want to be; no one will hand you anything on a silver platter.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m the founder and owner of Xinca Foods. We are currently the only Salvadorian food brand to sit on American grocery store shelves like Central Market, Met Market, Town & Country, PCC, etc. We are women- and Salvadorian-owned and one of the only brands representing Salvadorian cuisine in the American freezer aisle. In April, you can shop for our products on one of the largest TV and E-commerce shopping networks in the United States, HSN. Our product, Loroco & Cheese Pupusas, was a NEXTY Expo West finalist for best new frozen food product 2023. We were one of 3 diversity-owned businesses to make the finals in 2023.
I started Xinca Foods because Salvadorian food doesn’t exist in the freezer aisle; I wanted to change that! Salvadorian people are the third-largest Latinx community in the United States, yet our food isn’t easily accessible like other ethnic foods in the market.
Our focus is simple: we want to raise awareness of Salvadorian food by using simple, clean ingredients without compromising taste or quality. We want consumers to experience our culture through our food.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
People think owning a business is all glitz and glamour, but being a business person comes with many responsibilities. Anyone can start a business, but you must put in the work, deal with many rejections, and keep going. Depending on the type of business you decide to pursue, there are going to be a lot of issues that are going to arise. Dealing with those issues head-on and having the strength to persevere even with all the adversaries you will need to deal with is going to be one of the most challenging things you will need to do. Being in the CPG space has taught me that 1. Counting all your pennies is very important 2. Only outsource if it’s completely necessary and your business can sustain that. 3. Cash is king; save as much money as possible since starting a CPG brand is expensive, and getting on retail shelves costs money.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
I founded Xinca Foods in 2021 and wasn’t 100% full-time until 2022. If I could do things differently, I would keep better track of my recipes and Xinca Foods accounting. I would also organize my time more efficiently.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.xincafoods.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/xincafoods
Image Credits
StartUp CPG Photographer, Puchica Voz Photographer, Konstatine Daskalos, Javier Loyola – Diaz
