Meet our Empresarios: Jesmar Spices

Hacienda CDC’s Empresarios programming supports entrepreneurs to start, grow, and scale their businesses. Read more about our featured Empresario and learn about our amazing community of small business owners.

Business Name: Jesmar Spices

Country of Origin: Santa Cruz Tacache de Mina - Oaxaca, Mexico

Significance of Name: The name is a mix of the only daughters fist and last name, (Jes)sica (Mar)tinez: “Jesmar” Spices.

Goals for Business: Silverios goals are to expand his packaged salsa business to sell in retailers. He plans on focusing only on packaged products but would also love to work more at farmers markets to sells tacos as a way for people to try his marinades and packaged goods. His long term goal is to have a place to produce and package his products such as a restaurant, or grocery store with a butcher shop!    

Silverio’s Story

My name is Silverio Martinez, I was born in a town called Santa Cruz Tacache de Mina that in the beginning was dedicated to shepherding sheep and growing cotton, that's why the name of Tacache which in the Mixtec dialect means sheep behind the cotton field.

In my childhood I worked in the fields planting corn, beans and peanuts. My house is located one kilometer from the Mixteco river in Oaxaca, Mexico. My housewife mother and my peasant father. At school time I would leave school and go with my father to plant and care for the goats. My mother made a sauce with spices to dry the meat, because there was no refrigeration and we also covered the cheese with the leaves of a plant so that it stayed longer. It was from her that I learned to mix chilies with spices to create the marinades that I sell today. In addition to giving a very good flavor to the meat, it is preserved for a longer time.

My maternal grandfather was a butcher or "matanzas" as we called him in my town. Thanks to him I learned to work meat and that is why my marinades are special for preparing roasts.

Due to the economic situation of my family, I only studied elementary school. I emigrated from Oaxaca to the Federal District at the age of 16 where I worked in butchers and improving my work. When he was 26 years old, he emigrated to the United States. I worked in a restaurant for 5 years and then in a Mexican store for 12 years. In the Mexican store I prepared the marinades and they sold very well. That was how I decided to start my own business and stop working for someone else. Now they are my clients.

My business is called Jesmar Spices after my only daughter Jessica Martinez. I chose the word Spices because I make hot sauces and use 100% natural spices. My marinades are made from dried chili peppers, spices and citrus fruit juices such as lemon, orange and pineapple. Right now I am selling my wholesale marinades at butchers in the Portland Metro region and the current plan is to make my marinades in cans for the consumer to use their creativity and marinate their meats at home.

Jesmar Spices

Jesmar Spices is a company based on true traditional recipes mixed with years of experience. The man behind it all is Silverio Martinez. His story with spices began as a kid when he would learn by seeing his grandfather cook with spices and marinades to help preserve meats. Where Silverio is from refrigeration was a commodity that not many had, thus the use of spices to preserve food is very common. His grandpa himself had many years of experience and many perfected recipes that he passed on to Silverio. Due to the bad economic states of his hometown, he decided to migrate to the United States in 1997, with the hopes of finding a stable job to help out his family back home. His dream however was always to earn enough money to establish a grocery store business with a butcher shop back home to go back and run it with his family. 

         During the first few years in the U.S, he worked regular restaurant jobs to make ends meet. In 2004 he began working at a butcher shop at a Mexican store. He would use his own recipes to marinade the meats sold at this shop and realized there was a high demand for his products. This is where he began to realize that his work had more value than what he was being compensated for. He constantly asked for a raise and in all his years there his max pay only reached thirteen dollars. This sparked his entrepreneurial spirit and slowly began looking for ways to begin his own business. 

         In 2016 he began working with the Portland Mercado trough the Empresarios Program where he learned about how to properly establish a business here. In 2017 he got his license and began selling his marinades and spices to local stores. During this period he was working a regular job at night and focused on. growing is business during the day. As time went on his business began picking up to the point where he decided to spend his savings on a work truck to help deliver his products. 

        Jesmar Spices currently has products in 11 stores and supplies 4 food carts around town with his marinades. As his business continued to grow, he began to sell tacos at local farmer's markets. His first event ever was the street fair in Milwaukee, Oregon. He began selling food as a way to fund his spices business and to promote them as well since he uses his marinades to add flavor to his meats. This part of his business brought some though challenges for Silverio to face since he had never sold as a vendor himself. He undervalued his products but thanks to feedback from peers and customers he raised his prices to make a better profit margin which reflected the quality of his work. Sadly, COVID-19 has brought a halt to this part of his business but his entrepreneurial spirit has led him to evolve along with the tough times.      

        Silverio is currently focusing on selling his packaged products has recently begun developing packaged salsas made with secret recipes that he has slowly developed using his roots and traditional recipes as inspiration. YUM! 

         The three salsas are Salsa Verde, Salsa Diabla, and Salsa Puya! Currently only available at select restaurants. For inquiries or samples please contact Silverio personally.

Learn more about our Empresarios program and other businesses at the Portland Mercado.