Building a Spicy Latin Snack Brand With Daniel Schwarz of Chuza

Some brands start with market research. Chuza started with a memory.

This week on Above the Fold, I sat down with Daniel Schwarz, founder of Chuza, a spicy Latin snack brand rooted in culture, flavor, and zero shortcuts. Daniel grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, spent years in tequila and spirits brand management, and eventually left corporate to build something of his own. This conversation is about entrepreneurship, standards, and what it actually takes to build a brand that respects culture instead of flattening it. If you care about brand integrity, shelf presence, or building something that lasts, this episode is worth your time.

What I loved most about this conversation is how grounded Daniel is. No trend-chasing. No performative storytelling. Just real talk about flavor, persistence, and doing things right even when it would be easier not to.

From Corporate To Skin In The Game

Aniesha doesn’t hesitate when I ask how she thinks about CX inside an organization. In her ideal world, CX is the heartbeat of the business. Not a ticket queue. Not a clean-up crew. A strategic engine.

She breaks down how CX should influence product, marketing, loyalty, and operations long before issues ever hit the customer. When CX is embedded upstream, friction disappears earlier, churn drops faster, and teams stop guessing what customers want.

The biggest miss she sees? Companies saying they “care about CX” but only paying attention when revenue dips. At that point, you’re already behind.

Why Latin Snacks Deserved Better Representation

One of the biggest drivers behind Chuza was frustration.

Daniel talked about seeing Mexican and Hispanic products in the U.S. treated as an afterthought. Cheap packaging. Overused stereotypes. Clear bags with a sticker slapped on the front. Meanwhile, mainstream brands were getting thoughtful design and premium shelf presence.

Chuza was built to challenge that. The packaging is intentional, modern, and clean. Not because it’s trendy, but because Latin culture deserves the same level of care and quality as any other category on the shelf.

The Name Actually Matters

Chuza means hitting the mark. A strike. A home run.

Daniel wanted a name that worked in both Spanish and English. Easy to say. Easy to remember. Still meaningful. That detail matters more than people think. If someone hesitates to say your brand name out loud, you’ve already lost a moment of connection.

Flavor Grounded In Real Memory, Not Trends

One of my favorite moments from the conversation was Daniel talking about growing up eating tostadas with chile from street carts after football games.

One peso. Bags of spices. Citrus. Heat. Acidity. Shared with friends, standing around in the neighborhood. That memory is the benchmark for Chuza.

Every product has to live up to that feeling. Not a watered-down version. Not a mass-market reinterpretation. The real thing.

No Shortcuts On Ingredients

Chuza uses 100% Mexican spices. That’s non-negotiable.

Daniel shared a story about being offered cheaper spices and being told they were from New Mexico. Close, but not the same. It was an easy no.

He’s carried this mindset throughout his career. When he ran food service operations, he used one simple filter: would I feed this to my family? If the answer was no, the price didn’t matter.

Launching During The Pandemic (And Why It Helped)

Chuza started development in early 2020. Then everything shut down.

Instead of rushing to market, Daniel used that time to build the foundation. Branding. Legal. Product development. Taste testing by literally driving samples to people’s homes.

They didn’t launch in stores until 2021. That slower pace created space to get it right before scaling.

How Chuza Actually Got On Shelves

There were no shortcuts here either.

Daniel walked into stores with a box of snacks and asked for the manager. He restocked shelves himself. Counted what sold. Talked directly to customers. Followed up.

Trade shows meant chasing buyers with samples in a backpack. Some said no. Some listened. A few said yes. That’s how it started.

Listening To Customers Without Losing Conviction

One thing Daniel does well is balance feedback with standards.

When customers loved the flavor of a product but struggled with how it was used or shared, Chuza adjusted. Other feedback gets noted, not actioned immediately.

Listening doesn’t mean chasing every opinion. It means paying attention to patterns while staying true to what the brand stands for.

What The Pepsico Greenhouse Accelerator Unlocked

Chuza was selected for the PepsiCo Greenhouse Accelerator and received a $100,000 grant.

The money mattered, but the real value was access. Specialists. Mentors. Teams who live and breathe packaging, supply chain, and scaling. Daniel still talks to some of those mentors regularly, long after the program ended.

That kind of long-term guidance is hard to overstate.

Where Chuza Is Headed

Chuza is now in Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Walmart in Texas, and more, with broader distribution coming.

But the bigger goal isn’t just more shelves. It’s changing how people think about Latin snacks. Not as a novelty. Not as a themed moment. Just part of everyday life.

Why This Conversation Matters

This conversation wasn’t really about snacks. It was about standards.

Daniel is building something that respects culture, respects the consumer, and respects the process. He’s patient when it matters and relentless when it counts. That combination is rare.