• USA Today, Monday, March 24, 2008 11:16 AM

Goya Foods, which generates more than $1 billion in sales per year, is the USA's largest Hispanic foods company and one of its biggest family-owned companies. Started 72 years ago by Prudencio Unanue to give Spanish immigrants authentic ingredients, Goya is run today by his grandson, Bob Unanue, who grew up mostly in suburban New Jersey speaking English instead of Spanish, and eating his Irish-American mom's meat and potatoes.

Charting the variety of Hispanic cooking styles is difficult. A simple dish of rice and beans, for instance, varies widely depending on whether it's made by a Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban or Peruvian. To meet divergent needs, Goya sells 1,600 products ranging from bags of rice to ready-to-eat, frozen empanadas, up from 1,100 five years ago. The mix includes 38 varieties of beans alone.

Purchasing habits are also influenced by the length of time a shopper has lived here. New immigrants often buy a 99-cent bag of dried beans that need to soak for hours to make traditional dishes, while their children, who earn more money, may buy more expensive, ready-to-eat canned beans to save time, Unanue says. "As people assimilate, they go to the can."

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