In the News

Santitos Salsa can now be purchased at HEB Central Market in Houston!

Santitos Salsa can now be purchased at HEB Central Market in Austin and San Antonio!

Santitos Salsa is now available in the following flavors: Mild, Medium, and Hot.

For thirty years Santos Gutierrez of Pleasanton has endured her children asking, "Mom, can you please make your salsa?" It has finally paid off.

The 66-year old and mother of six children now has her likeness emblazoned on jars of "Santitos Salsa", the family's own recipe.

Her son Ron Gutierrez, 37, signed a business contract for the product in March. "I just got tired of the watered down taste of the salsas out there," said Gutierrez. "I missed my mom's. It was my father's recipe, but it was my mom that made it." His mother handed Ron the recipe, but said he needed to find his own way of making it, since everyone makes salsa differently.

Ron, who is employed by the City Public Service of San Antonio, began taking the condiment to work, where people would offer him money for the salsa. "Someone suggested I start a business. That was three years ago," adds Ron. "So I took it to a manufacturer and they told me I needed to figure out how many ounces of this and that I needed. When I figured that out I took the the recipe back to them."

The creation is now bottled in San Antonio and is part of GO TEXAN, which endorses products made in Texas. Ron handles marketing of the product.

"My first time working in the grocery business was when I worked at Shearrer's while I was in DECA in high school," comments Ron. "My teacher, Ferdie Burket, gave me lots of advice and inspired me as far as knowing there's a big world out there. You just need to find your niche and do what you do best...then go do it!"

Ron is especially thankful to Gomez Drive-Thru, where Ron began promoting the item to get started and to Larry Mross, who also helped him out. Santitos Salsa is now available at Super S Food Store in Pleasanton, Jourdanton and Floresville and will be in Poteet soon. It can also be found at La Fiesta on Flores Street in San Antonio and at the Rivercenter in downtown San Antonio.

Ron began accepting mail-orders after taking the product to this year's Pleasanton Cowboy Homecoming, kendall County Fair, and to Austin.

Santitos Salsa was also named one of the Top Three Hottest Salsas at the State Fair in Dallas, competing against others who have been in the business for many years.

Currently, the salsa is labeled "Medium Hot." In the future, Ron would like to expand the product line to include more varieties of the salsa, as well as a ranchero sauce, specifically for those who crave huevos rancheros.

Ron, married with three daughters, has set an ultimate goal for himself. "If I can get it going, I'd like to put some money back into the schools. I want to offer a scholarship for music and the arts to pay back the community that helped me out," says Ron, whose love for music comes from his father, Henry, who died when [Ron] was about 17-years old. Henry played the guitar and was a disc jockey at KBOP for 18 years.

Ron has preserved some of his dad's music on tape and feels it would be great background music for commercials.

As for his mother's picture on the product, Ron says it is a way of saying thanks. "She's always been there. She helps us out the most. It lets her know I'll always have her with me."