When the news broke that Mexico's leading pasta company, which had been exporting to the United States for decades, had decided to build a production and distribution facility in Texas, it surprised no one.
La Moderna is just one of dozens oversea companies that have opted to build plants here in America rather than simply exporting to the market. And in every case the decision to manufacture in America is driven at least in part by the changing tastes of Americans.
Here's a look at three trends that seem to be driving companies to build infrastructure in the U.S. to feed a nation of changing tastes.
Goya's investments
The Hispanic population in the U.S. has grown 62% since 2000. That's led to a surge in folks looking for a taste of the old country. La Moderna is just the latest example of an importer-turned-manufacturer that caters to that consumer base.
The king of Hispanic cuisine is Goya Foods. Goya is a U.S-based company, with headquarters in Secaucus, NJ. But it was founded by Spanish immigrants in 1936, and built itself into a giant of Latin food by catering to every subset of New York City's Hispanic population. Goya brand foods proved popular with people with roots in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, et al. And Goya managed to serve them all largely through production facilities in in Puerto Rico, Spain, and the Dominican Republic.
In 2013, Goya opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Texas after building a few smaller manufacturing/distribution centers in several states. The Texas plant turned out to be only the start of a larger effort. In March of this year, Goya announced it would spend $250 million to expand production and build four manufacturing and distribution facilities here in the States. New plants are slated for California, Georgia, New Jersey and Texas.
The Orange County boom
Few places in America have changed as much in the past few decades as Orange County, CA. The home of Disneyland is also now the home of the third-largest Asian population in the U.S.
That's led to a dramatic surge in food production aimed at serving that population. Among the companies that have build manufacturing and distribution facilities in Orange County are South Korea's CJ Corp. (which now owns the Annie Chun brands) and Japan's Imuraya, which makes red bean ice creams. Other Asian companies with a presence in the county include Japan's Nissin Foods, and Seoul-based Nong Shim Foods
And when Asian companies aren't building new production facilities, they seem to be buying existing ones here in the United States.
Probiotics craze
The most recent company to build in Orange County is Yakult, the Japanese-owned maker of probiotic drinks. Yakult, like La Moderna, has long made products in Mexico and then shipped them over the border to the United States. But that changed in May when Yakult opened a 76,800 square foot facility in Fountain Valley.
Yakult is hardly the only foreign company to see potential in Americans' new love of all things probiotic.
Emmi Roth USA, the American arm of Switzerland's Emmi Group, announced in July it would spend $11.6 million to add production capacity at its Siggi's yogurt facility in upstate New York.
Even dairy facilities that don't cater to the probiotics market seem to be attracting interest from foreign companies. Canada's Agropur recently doubled its production capacity in the States.
Would you like to see more food news like this in your inbox on a daily basis? Subscribe to our Food Dive email newsletter. You may also want to read Food Dive's look at four rebranding efforts that ended in retreat.