Old El Paso brand in Healesville, Australia
Grocery in Healesville, Australia. Healesville is just outside Melbourne.
I have seen Old El Paso brand (a division of General Mills) marketed in most countries. There was a time in the not too distant past when my Dutch, English, and German friends would not have known what a tortilla was or, if they did, they would be thinking Spanish tortilla, a kind of omelet. For those who do not know, the tortillas, enchiladas, chili rellenos, etc., that many people call Mexican food is not what Mexican's would consider Mexican food nor is it purely Mexican in origin. It developed along both sides of the border between Texas and Mexico and is more properly called Tex-Mex. If you want to know more, I recommend the book The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos by Robert Walsh.
Anyway, on this trip to Australia I ended up waiting in the Qantas airport lounge in Los Angeles. It was late and there was only one other person there, and we struck up a conversation. She was from Melbourne and returning from Mexico City. She worked for General Mills in Melbourne. The cause of her visit was to convince Mexican marketers to carry Old El Paso brand.
"Oh, do you speak Spanish?" I asked. She did not. This had been her first trip to Mexico. She was not familiar with Mex-Mex (real Mexican food) nor had she ever been to Texas. None of this bothered her. Old El Paso Brand, she told me, is handled out of Melbourne (Australia), and that was reason enough.
Now I've already mentioned that I have observed success of the brand, so I wish to temper my comments. I suspect this woman would do very well talking to the Dutch or the English or the Germans. Yet I could not help thinking that sending her to talk to the Mexicans may be an example of the internal procedures and bureaucracy of a large company taking precedence over reality. Surely a company as large as General Mills could find someone who spoke Spanish and was more familiar with Mexico and Mexicans to convince them, especially in the District, to adopt their product. They must have many such people in the U.S., perhaps even Texas. In addition to better chances of success, think of the money that would have been saved on airfare and employee travel time.
I had to smile. Old El Paso brand may be available in Utrecht, in Essex, in Solingen, and it is most certainly available in Houston, in Dallas, and (yes) modern El Paso, but it was not available yet in Mexico. Mexicans in the District have never been too certain about those Norteños. Monterrey is entirely too close to the United States. She didn't know anything about that, either.
P.S. Melbourne is indeed the home of the Old El Paso brand. Quoting from the General Mills' web site www.generalmills.com/corporate/company/international/aust..., "In 1995, The Pillsbury Company launched its Australian business with the acquisition of Old El Paso. [...] General Mills purchased The Pillsbury Company in 2001 to form one of the world's largest food companies." Thus my story is simply about a missed opportunity to exploit an economy of scale after a merger.
I would very much like to know the earlier story about placing Old El Paso brand in Australia. The success they have had spreading the brand world wide is remarkable.