Hispanic Business Rooted In Passion and Tradition

This successful Hispanic food industry business developed its product line from family tradition.

This Hispanic business journey of La Dorita began more than forty years ago when Josephine Oria’s adventurous father, Oliver and mother, Beatriz left their home country of Argentina in 1974; a country they loved, but believed had limitations for their aspirations and their future.

And so, a journey began in their home kitchen, the epicenter of their start up business. In their kitchen the recipe was developed, and many calls were made to source ingredients to support their commitment to a natural product.

One of their key ingredients was fresh, non-pasteurized milk. Reaching out to the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Josephine and Gaston were provided with the names of local farmers to supply the raw milk that would enable them to move ahead with production.

By taking the steps to grow their business through investment and expansion the orders for La Dorita soon increased. This meant another change in business strategy as they soon outgrew their home kitchen space and needed to find a working commercial kitchen to the meet this increased demand.

Acquisition of this space required some creative, and perhaps unconventional funding. The couple turned to Kickstarter to make the Rotary Club their commercial kitchen. Kickstarter is a crowd funding platform that allows people to seek funding and investment from the public to support and grow a business, product, or idea.

Their larger commercial kitchen brought about another opportunity for themselves and their community. Josephine and Gaston have established a kitchen-sharing program for new start-ups. They have eight registered tenants; a place where these fledgling Hispanic businesses cannot only test and perfect their recipes but also have access to the experiences Josephine and Gaston have had in starting and growing a business. This way of giving back, of helping others get their start continues to re-energize the couple and their vision for La Dorita.

Today the couple continues to work on the business; Josephine in a front of the house role and Gaston working in the kitchen daily and working closely with the local farmers to ensure the highest quality product. Both agree it is not an easy type of life they have chosen. They are passionate and committed to keeping their traditions alive.

As Josephine explains it, Embrace the crazy — the thought of not embarking on this journey to preserve our traditions was worse than not daring to do it.