About Us

 

Santiago Salsa is a division of Feligonz Inc.

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Santiago salsa had a humble beginning back on May 2012.  At that time the salsa was introduced to the world as Arizona Joe Salsa “AZJ” due to the origin of the recipe… here is the story. 

 

Our beloved Grandma Lee had a friend “Joe” who she enjoyed dancing with at the local senior center, after the dance Grandma Lee and Joe would come home and he would cook her lunch. Along with a nice home cooked “guisó" he always made salsa.  Grandma Lee suggest to Felicia to learn how to make Joes salsa… “it’s so simple Mijita” said Grandma Lee. 

 

Finally after several encouraging invitations, Felicia took a look at the process & ingredients, made her own adjustments and the rest is history.  Joe was from Arizona, hence the name Arizona Joe Salsa. 

 

Felicia’s salsa was a hit and our Wednesday Night Family Dinners at church, at our family gatherings, school & work potlucks, we even saw folks fighting over it after a party, this made us start thinking. Later, we launched “AZJ Salsa” at our church boutique from an invitation made to us by Teresa Jones Leader of the College Avenue Church of the Nazarene “This-N-That Boutique”. 

 

This was a God sent for our family since our oldest Daughter Viviana was scheduled to start CSUF in the fall and we needed some funds for college. 

 

Our Original/ Medium Hot was the first, after a few requests for hotter  and a milder version, plus an overwhelming request for green our product line was expected to 4 flavors. This took off… we started selling in Farmers Markets and within a short period we were in small stores. We also started a fund raising campaign with the local middle school, we were also featured on a Radio Talk show “Business Rockstars”. 

 

Our Whittier committee embraced us and loved on us, we were featured at a local church “Lent Fish Fry”, numerous other events and invitations were received for our salsa.  A parent from the middle school shared with us the name and number of the buyer from her favorite food market and after connecting with him and making some adjustments we were in over 7 stores in the OC areas.

 

By the middle of 2013 we were in over 20 stores, still doing Farmers Markets and also selling in bulk to restaurants and other people.

 

With all this attention, request from large chain stores were received but not being seasoned in how to take this, some moves were made hoping to take advantage of the new business opportunities and later realized that we had bitten off more than we can chew.

 

So, in May of 2015 AZJ was taken off the market shelves.

 

Being a family of faith and turning to the Good's Word (The Bible) for direction and answers, this verse was key in letting go.

 

John 12:24 NKJV

Most assuredly, i say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remails alone, but if it dies it produces much grain.

 

This scripture gave us hope to know that our salsa would live again and produce much. Huge life and business lessons were learned, the salsa business was very different, all the loose ends that are left after a collapsed business have been completed, our family has grown we are now grandparents and as our company Bible Verse reminds us…

 

Romans 11:29 for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable…

 

So knowing that God called Felicia and I to the business world and gifted us with an awesome product, we were lead to do a regroup and restart and this time follow God not man.  We wanted a fresh start, a fresh name a different name so since the newest and biggest blessing from God was our Grandson, why not name our product after him.

 

So…. family, friends, and salsa lovers,  we would like to introduce to you by the power and hand of almighty God, SANTIAGO SALSA.

 

Let’s make history again.

 

God has given us so many new and renewed ideas. We restarted our Salsa Rolls, they were a hit, now we are considering how to continue making and selling them.  We also started Santiago Hot Sauce. This a hotter version of our Mucho Hot, but this is in a glass bottle. Folks loved it, so we are also thinking about making more.

 

We are revisiting retail store and preparing a production schedule to have enough product for our customers. 

 

The last time we used a co-packer to produce our salsa, many customers did share with us the the quality and taste was being lost. After reviewing the process we did find some taste and ingredients were being “commercialized”.  This time Felicia and I have been awarded our own Processed Food Registration by the State of California and been certified by the Orange County Health Department to produce our salsas for retail and wholesale markets.

 

God cotinues to light the path he has made for us , doors are opening, and store shelves and making room for us. Stay tunes as we will post where you can get and where you can taste Santiago Salsa.

 

Blessings

 

The Sanchez Family

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