Lessons from Mayte Weitzman at a Company That Has Spent 90 Years Listening to Its Consumers

Goya’s story demonstrates that a brand does not build reputation through advertising alone. It builds it by turning its values into an experience that millions of people can recognize generation after generation.

By Patricia ContrerasCEO, WoodlandStories Magazine

During our conversation on Sin Libreto by WoodlandStories, Mayte Weitzman, Goya Foods’ public relations executive in Texas, spoke not only about the company’s 90-year history. Perhaps without intending to, she spoke about something far more difficult to build: the trust a company accumulates when it consistently delivers on its promise over decades.

And that is the story worth telling.

Goya was founded in 1936 by Spanish immigrants Prudencio Unanue and his wife, Carolina, in New York. What began by serving immigrants looking for foods that reminded them of home became, nine decades later, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, with more than 2,600 products, more than 4,000 employees, and 26 manufacturing and distribution facilities.

But none of those numbers alone explains the brand’s staying power.

Reputation Starts Before Social Media

One of the most compelling ideas from my conversation with Weitzman is precisely this: Goya built much of its reputation before the word “influencer” existed, before Instagram, and long before artificial intelligence.

The company understood something that many brands today are trying to discover through algorithms: listen to the consumer.

As new immigrant communities arrived in the United States, Goya did more than sell them products. It embraced new flavors, traditions, and ways of cooking.

Weitzman explained how employees from different backgrounds participate in that process. They taste and evaluate products, sharing their perspectives on whether a recipe truly captures the flavor people expect to find in their own kitchens.

It is a simple strategy, but a powerful one: Consumers do not always want a brand to tell them who they are. Sometimes, they simply want to feel seen.

The Real Reputation Risk

For Weitzman, a company with such a recognizable brand carries a particular responsibility: every product that reaches the consumer must reinforce the company’s promise.

“If it’s Goya, it has to be good” is not simply a slogan—nor was it created by an advertising agency. It emerged from the company’s founding philosophy.  It is a standard. And that distinction is fundamental for every entrepreneur.

A strong reputation is not about avoiding every mistake. It is about building enough reasons for the market to trust you.

That requires quality, consistency, committed employees, and the ability to respond when circumstances change.

Goya faced that test during the COVID-19 pandemic, when food supply chains and distribution systems experienced extraordinary pressure. The company has reported maintaining its operations while distributing millions of pounds of food to communities in need.

The Word That Kept Coming Up: Family

It may sound familiar in the context of a family-owned business. But it takes on a different meaning when we are talking about an organization that has passed through four generations.

Weitzman described a culture in which employees from different nationalities share language, food, experiences, and a sense of belonging. That does not mean differences disappear. It means learning how to work with them.

For entrepreneurs, this may be one of Goya’s most overlooked lessons:

Internal culture is also part of external reputation.

An employee who trusts the company can become one of its strongest ambassadors. An employee who does not can become one of its greatest reputational risks.

Reputation Is Also About Community

Goya did not wait for corporate social responsibility—CSR—to become a business trend before engaging with its communities.

Today, the company works with more than 300 organizations and supports initiatives involving food, education, disaster relief, and cultural heritage. In March 2026, as part of its 90th-anniversary celebrations, Goya donated one million pounds of food in a single day.

Beyond the number, there is a more interesting business question: Does your community know what your company stands for when you are not trying to sell them something?  That is also where reputation is built.

The Final Lesson Is Not 90 Years Old

At the end of our interview, Mayte Weitzman offered a message particularly relevant to entrepreneurs who are building businesses today:

Work hard. Be honest. Innovate. Persevere. If one door closes, keep knocking.  But there is one phrase that, for me, captures the entire conversation:

“Do the right thing, especially when no one is watching.” That is not a public relations strategy. It is a reputation strategy.

And perhaps that is the real lesson behind Goya’s 90 years: a brand can buy advertising, hire campaigns, and produce content. What it cannot buy overnight is the trust accumulated across generations.

Reputation is not manufactured for a crisis. It is built long before the crisis arrives. And when what a company says, what it does, and what its audiences experience remain aligned over decades, it becomes more than a brand.

It becomes a reference point.