How ILLES Foods stays true to its values while continuing to expand
Founded in 1927 by a Hungarian Olympic hurdler and immigrant, ILLES Foods (ILLES) began serving custom fragrance solutions to its customers, eventually evolving into the culinary powerhouse it is today, providing seasoning, sauces, syrups and research and development expertise, as well as consumer insights to foodservice chains, grocery, retail, and industrial clients.
Elsy Ocejo, Vice President of Supply Chain at ILLES, elaborates on this journey: “The business started in 1927 as an innovative company, and we have remained true to that DNA to this day. The largest team within ILLES is the product development team. That’s what really differentiates us from other players – the almost 200 years of combined experience within that team and the people that are a part of it. Our leadership is also a particular strength, and we are proud to have Cristin Illes, who represents the fourth generation and is the company’s first female CEO.
“Cristin took over the company in 2020, just before Covid,” Elsy continues. “She has a clear and ambitious vision for the company, with goals to expand the beverage section of the business. There is also a big focus on keeping up with the food industry as it evolves and on staying on top of the global cultural elements of flavor as well as food safety which always remains paramount.”
Elsy goes on to highlight the company’s product ranges. “One thing that helps set us apart is that we are remarkably good at both savory and sweet; where the majority of competitors focus on one or the other, we can do both. We’re also good with liquid as well as dry products. We focus on marinades, seasonings, syrups, and beverage solutions. We have two plants in Texas where products emerge in one of seven packaging formats. Keeping innovation in mind we also have an archive of over 25,000 formulas. We also collaborate closely with our customers who do not always know what they want to do to enhance the product and elevate their offering, so we work them to either boost the flavor, increase visual appeal or adapt the texture.”
Collaborative environment
Elsy moves on to highlight a key partnership with Grupo Arancia, based in Guadalajara, Mexico. “We initially met Grupo Arancia at the American Spice Trade Association conference; the relationship began with conversations about what a supplier relationship would look like and what it will mean for us to do nearshoring of key ingredients for spices and flavors. I needed to leverage my Hispanic upbringing and my international commerce background. One of the things I asked them for was a full list of their capabilities rather than a list of products they could produce. This really opened things up, being able to look at a supplier from all points of view, specifically their growth strategies and how these integrate with ILLES’ growth strategies. It was quite an innovative approach that helped us both improve and evolve together. It is a true business partnership in that sense, much more so than a traditional supplier relationship. It has helped us that our companies are very similar, both founded around 1900, both in the fourth generation of family owners. We also share similar values of integrity, curiosity, and intentionality, so when our teams meet in person there is already a rapport which creates an exciting collaborative environment.”
Staying ahead of the curve has also been a key element of the company’s success. Elsy elaborates: “A good example of this is around ten years ago the Nielsen
Report came out. It outlined how demographics in the US were going to change over the coming decades. The report predicted a boom in Hispanic, Asian, and African American populations. Companies back in 2014 and 2015 that did not keep these customers in mind in their ten-year vision, now are finding themselves way behind the competition. Now you start seeing the prevalence of global flavors; the depth of Hispanic flavors and products is much greater than it was. The same can be said of Asian foods, you can find Korean barbeque everywhere, as well an entire range of Indian flavors and foods. This trend will continue to grow and will get stronger.”
Supply chain resilience
Looking forward, this is an exciting area of the business which Elsy and the team are keen to expand. “We want to sell more fusion flavors, more globalized foods, as well as more coffee flavor enhancements and other caffeinated drinks. We are also looking to incorporate more organic flavors, and to enhance sustainability across all our products as we continue to evolve.
“This will pose some challenges to our supply chain, but if we look at how much this area has changed since the introduction of the term supply chain in 1982, this trend is only going to continue as more responsibilities come under the function’s remit. Right now, for example, we are seeing significant cybersecurity threats to the supply chain systems. Also, if you are responsible for the supply chain from end to end, then sustainability will become a bigger, more crucial factor, it is something customers will demand. It will really evaluate our vulnerabilities and enhance the antifragility we can build in.”
Elsy concludes by reflecting on her time in the business and the experience of being a woman in the industry. “In my time, it has evolved a lot, we’re still not there, but in terms of the areas I cover, from procurement to production planning and project management, as well as customer experience, this is very unique. I never envisioned having this much responsibility over the whole supply chain, and I know it will continue to grow. This is also reflected across different areas of the business with Cristin leading us, and Silvia Guerin joining us as the new VP of Sales, and with Sharon Webster who is the VP of Product Development, we are making strong partnerships both internally and externally. This is really exciting, it’s a much more collaborative approach that really enables products and flavor innovation.”