Meet Cien Chiles: the brand bringing authentic, flavor-first Mexican condiments to the table

Maria Covarrubias first came up with the idea for Cien Chiles when she moved to America from her home in Guadalajara, Mexico. “I came to America when I was 25 to become a chef at the Culinary Institute of America. I didn’t have a chance to make my own salsa because I was going to school and working in kitchens. But we always had fresh salsa available in my household [in Mexico]. I wished I could grab a bottle that tasted like homemade salsa at the store, but nothing was really available. That’s when the thought started.”

Still, Maria didn’t immediately pursue the idea as her restaurant career brought her to Napa Valley, New York City, and San Diego. “The restaurant industry is very intense and adrenaline-driven. So when I moved to San Diego, I wanted to get a corporate nine-to-five job. I went into innovation, and I gained experience creating different products for a company here in San Diego.” Throughout her time at this job, however, she always had her salsas in the back of her mind. “When the pandemic hit, my husband lost his business and I felt called to support my family in a different. That’s when I decided to finally launch [Cien Chiles] with the help of my husband.”

Developing Cien Chiles

Once Maria and her husband decided to launch Cien Chiles, they put the pedal to the metal and got to work. “From March, when the pandemic started, to August when we launched, we spent long nights and busy weekends getting the brand ready.”  Beyond the recipes themselves, Maria spent the most time developing Cien Chiles’ brand identity. She explains, “I’m very proud of my Mexican heritage, so I wanted that to be showcased in the packaging and branding. The largest chunk of money was spent developing the brand, spending time with the designers, and making the website visually enticing. I highly recommend spending the time to solidify what your vision is for your brand. Where do you see yourself going and where do you want your product to be?”

Though Maria launched Cien Chiles in August 2020, she kept her corporate job until 2023 to financially support their new venture. She says, “It’s a tough balance — If I leave [my job], I can spend more time on the business, but then we won’t have the money from my corporate job…I finally felt it was time to step away and dedicate myself. Of course, I don’t think we ever feel entirely ready to make the jump, but it’s the type of thing where if you’re not spending enough time, how is the business going to grow?…And since the beginning of this year, we have been surfing all year on the momentum we’ve built from investing more time in the business.”

Connecting with community

Maria emphasizes the importance of connecting with her Cien Chiles community both on and offline. Maria greets her social media followers every day with “Hola Famiglia,” and is constantly posting updates, recipes, and personal stories. That said, she explains, “[Social media] is very time-consuming. It takes hours for me to post a video or reels with a recipe.”

Still, Maira feels the effort is worth it. “People want to support small brands. Having support from our community is the push for me to be in front of the cameras. Even when I have a challenging day, I show up. I’m not wearing any makeup, I’m kind of sad today, and people relate to that. We’re all human at the end of the day, and we’re fighting our fight to make it out there in the market. Get out there and show your face and have that face time with the community because you never know who’s watching.”

When it comes to connecting with her community offline, Maria explains, “Demos have been moving the needle a lot…Not all people do social media, so if you get face time with the customer in your retailer, you can convert someone for life. Showing up for the community incentivizes people to support you. People realize you’re the founder, and they are always so impressed that it’s not this massive corporation. We also take pride in our customer service. I answer every email. Taking care of your community is just as important as showing up and doing that initial conversion.”

Navigating trade shows

In her corporate job, Maria traveled to Expo West multiple times as an exhibitor, but this year she came to the show as a backpack brand. Having had both experiences, Maria recommends that new brands pace themselves with big tradeshows. She explains, “Resources are scarce for everybody. If you’re a brand that’s from 100,000 to half a million dollars, I wouldn’t spend the money setting up a booth [at Expo West]. It’s not only the cost of the booth, it’s traveling, hotels, the product you’re giving out for sampling, and shipping to Expo West beforehand. I would consider it with Startup CPG because you make it more affordable, but the experience I had [as a backpackbrand], was so much more worth it to be able to walk around to meet buyers in the hallway. It does have value to have a booth, but you’re tied to whoever walks to you.” Instead of getting a booth at Expo West or Fancy Foods, Maria has prioritized getting tabletops at distributor shows where, she says, “you can convert and sell rather than spend dollars where you don’t know if a buyer will walk by or if you’ll gain followers or not.”

As a backpack brand at Expo West, Cien Chiles was selected for a one-on-one buyer meeting with Central Market in the Startup CPG section. Maria was able to convert this conversation and they recently launched into Central Market in Texas. She says, “I get the chills thinking about it because it is such a journey and you need to talk to the right person to navigate getting into a new retailer. We sat down with the buyer, and I started sharing my story and when she tried it, she said, ‘Oh my God. this is phenomenal. I want to bring you in. We’ll start the paperwork.’ Everything takes time, but my husband is so organized, so when they sent all the forms, he knew every detail and sent them right back. The buyer said, ‘I can’t believe how quickly you guys moved everything.’ So we’re already on shelves. Everything happened so fast, and it took a lot of organizational skills from my partner in crime.”

What’s next for Cien Chiles

Given their exciting expansion into more retailers this year, Maria has frequently been asked, “What’s next? Are you creating more products?” The short answer for now is no. She explains, “For now, our focus is to grow deeper where we are — having a vision for strategic growth is what brought us here today. We’re already in 19 different states and in certain retailers — Bristol Farms, Whole Foods, Central Market, and others. We want to build strong roots with the retail partners that we have, so we can continue to grow and thrive.” To learn more about Cien Chiles and their retail locations, check out their website