Goya Foods

Goya Foods, Inc., is a private American multinational producer and distributor of foods and beverages sold in the United States and many Spanish-speaking countries. The company operates facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Spain. It is under third-generation ownership of the Spanish-American Unanue family and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The company was founded in 1936 by Prudencio Unanue Ortiz and Carolina Casal de Valdez, a Spanish married couple who emigrated to New York City. Upon Prudencio's death in 1976, the company was valued at $8.5 million, and was passed on to sons Joseph, Charles, Francisco, and Anthony. Under Joseph's tenure as chief executive Goya became a major corporation, which by 1998 produced about 800 food items, employed 2,000 workers, and had about US$700 million in annual revenue. In 2004, Joseph was ousted by fellow family members, who replaced him with Robert Unanue, son of Anthony. By that time, the company was generating more than $1 billion in annual revenue.