Hot Seller: El Burrito was among the first to manufacture fresh salsa, and now business is booming.

Mark Roth, the owner and president of El Burrito Mexican Food Products Inc., got into the fresh salsa industry almost by accident.

In 1980, Roth owned an independent grocery store in El Monte that was struggling against several national supermarkets that had moved into his neighborhood.

He couldn't compete with the financial resources of the chain stores, so he decided to stick to his niche: Latino-oriented foods.

Roth opened a "tortilleria" (tortilla factory) in his store, introducing it with a three-day fiesta that included a Mariachi band and free samples of tortillas and homemade-style salsa.

The salsa turned out to be the life of the party. Customers were buying five or six tubs at a time, Roth said, and he realized that even though "fresh salsa" is a staple on many dinner tables in Latino homes, it hadn't reached many supermarket refrigerator cases.

The only place to find "fresh salsa" was in an authentic Latino kitchen. And many of Roth's customers - mothers with full-time jobs - were relieved to have some help with their cooking, he said.

"Our salsa could make her life easier," said Roth. "She can use it 'as is' or use it as a base and doctor it to her family's taste."

Roth's fresh salsa products got him out of the grocery business and into the food manufacturing industry. But the transition was gradual: For seven years, Roth treated the salsa line as a side business, even though the number of bulk orders from other grocery stores steadily increased.

It wasn't until his meat department manager told Roth that salsa production was crowding out his operations that Roth decided to take the salsa line seriously.

So in 1987, he sold the store and moved into a manufacturing facility in the City of Industry. He opened El Burrito with six employees and concentrated primarily on manufacturing and distributing four kinds of salsa, generating about $500,000 in revenues that first year.

Today, El Burrito employs about 25 to 35 employees (he hires more to handle the increased work load during the Christmas season) and is projecting $5 million in sales this year. His company currently makes and distributes eight different kinds of salsa, as well as four kinds of "maza" (corn meal used to make tamales), guacamole and pickled carrots.

It also imports and distributes five kinds of ate, a fruit pate, and his company is preparing to launch several more salsas and a line of chorizo-like soy products.

About 50 percent of El Burrito's business comes from private labels; it provides the store-brand salsa for Ralphs Grocery Co. and the Springfield product line, which is sold through Certified Grocers. The rest of El Burrito's customers are independent grocery stores that buy the product directly from El Burrito or through wholesale distributors.

Roth got into the salsa market just as it was taking off nationwide. U.S. supermarket sales of Mexican salsas and marinades hit $764.7 million last year, far out-pacing those of ketchup, which totaled $431.3 million, according to Information Resources Inc. a market research firm in Chicago.

And El Burrito's salsa niche - fresh and flavored salsas - is one of the hottest lines in the salsa market. Supermarket sales of salsas made with roasted garlic and other vegetables increased 58 percent to $70.3 million last year, according to the Food Institute, a food manufacturing industry research group.

Roth's product line has been driven by his customers' tastes rather than market trends.

"Non-Hispanic salsa became a fad - salsa became synonymous with heat," said Roth. But the milder versions, he said, are more suitable for everyday use in authentic Mexican cuisine because they are easier to use as a base for soups and sauces.

Sergio Arizmendiz, a category buyer for food distributor Dairy Fresh, said he has tasted numerous salsas and El Burrito makes one of the few condiments that taste homemade.

"You can pour it out of the tub into your own little bowl and pretend that you made it yourself," he said.

Roth has catered to Latino shoppers since he opened the Mars Market in El Monte in 1969, where he noticed that Latino culture places an emphasis on food. Roth, who was born in a small town in North Dakota, acquired a similar appreciation for food when he was growing up in his father's grocery store.

In Roth's family, "we live to eat - not eat to live," he said.

When Roth arrived in California from the Midwest, he said, he was initially alienated by the culture. But in the Latino community, Roth found people who equally valued the importance of family and food.

Roth prides himself on incorporating the suggestions of his customers into his recipes. The idea started at the tortilleria in his El Monte store, where Roth would place samples of various salsas out for shoppers. Those shoppers would often offer helpful suggestions on how he could improve on his salsas.

Today, most of the feedback comes from his employees. "We do everything as a team, no one has just one function," he said.

But El Burrito's newest product - Soyrizo, an all-vegetable chorizo substitute it launched in August - came from Roth's personal experience rather than customer input. Roth, 64, recently underwent open-heart surgery, "the worst experience of my life," he said. His doctor told him that he has to reduce his cholesterol, but the meat-substitute products all tasted like seasoned Styrofoam, he said.

Soyrizo also marks the first time that the Latino shopper isn't El Burrito's target market. Instead, it's geared toward "people who love to eat, but need to watch their diet," he said.

He introduced Soyrizo this summer, and it's currently carried in Southern California at Bristol Farms and Gelson's Markets, according to Sandy Hall, a buyer at Dairy Fresh.

Roth spent two years testing Soyrizo on Latino customers who thought they were eating authentic chorizo.

"The taste has really held this (type of) product back in the past," he said.

He notes that it's a bit of a risk to introduce a health-conscious food product to a cuisine that's heavy on lard and frying. But, he adds, "You've got to be willing to try new things - and that means you can't be afraid of failure."

Spotlight

El Burrito Mexican Foods Inc.

Year founded: 1986 Core business: Manufacturing and distributing Mexican foods Top executive/owner: Mark Roth Revenues in 1987: $500,000 Revenues in 1997: (projected): $5 Employees in 1986: 6 Employees in 1997: 25 to 35 (depending on season) Goal: To make food products that make life easier for working Hispanic mothers Driving force: Growing appetite for fresh salsas.