page_title: Goya Foods
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Goya Foods / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Don Prudencio Unanue and wife
context_page_description: Goya Foods, Inc. is an American producer of a brand of foods sold in the United States and many Hispanic countries. It calls itself "the largest U.S. Hispanic-owned food company" and "is now one of the leading sources for authentic Latin cuisine" according to Fox Business. It has facilities in different parts of the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Spain. It is under third-generation ownership of the Unanue family, and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, US.
context_section_description: Goya Foods was founded in 1933 (some sources claim 1936), by Prudencio Unanue Ortiz (1886–1976) from Valle de Mena, Spain.  Prudencio immigrated to Puerto Rico, where he met and married Carolina Casal (1890–1984), also a Spanish immigrant; they later moved to New York City. The family had originally opened a small store called "Unanue and Sons" in 1922; however, it was converted to wholesale in the mid 1930s. Prudencio purchased the "Goya" name from a Moroccan sardine company because he believed that his last name was too difficult to pronounce for American customers and also liked the association to Spanish artist Francisco Goya.
  When Prudencio Unanue died in 1976, he left Goya to his sons, Joseph, Charles, Francisco and Anthony. Upon his father's death, Joseph A. Unanue became chief executive of Goya, then a fairly small, $8.5 million company. As president and chief executive of the company, Joseph shared control with his brother Francisco, who served as president of Goya de Puerto Rico Inc., responsible for much of the company's manufacturing operations. Joseph A. Unanue's son, Joseph F. Unanue, was general manager and vice president of Goya de Puerto Rico from 1989 to 1996, when he became executive vice president at the company's New Jersey, assuming the No. 2 position in the company; he died two years later. 
  During Joseph A. Unanue's decades at the head of the company, Goya grew to become a major corporation. By 1998, the company produced about 800 food items (including rice,  beans, sauces, and spices), had 2,000 employees, and about $700 million in revenue. Joseph A. Unanue was ousted from his position as Goya chairman and CEO in 2014, amid an feud in the Unanue family about the direction of the company. At the time of Joseph A. Unanue's ouster, Goya was generating from $750 million, to more than $1 billion in revenue. Joseph's son Andy Unanue, the chief operating officer of the company, also left Goya amid the disagreement, prompting litigation. Robert Unanue and his cousin Francisco Unanue made the decision to remove Andy, who had previously been considered the "heir apparent" to Goya. Joseph Unanue retained a significant stake in the company, and retained a seat on its board; he died in 2013. Robert Unanue has been the chief executive since 2004. The fracturing of Goya's ownership among its founders' descendants has frequently led to disputes about the company's strategy.  
  In 2012, the company began construction on a $127 million distribution center in the industrial Meadowlands area of Jersey City, backed by state tax incentives that aided the company in its move from Secaucus to the Jersey City site.
  In 2019, Goya had talks with The Carlyle Group about a possible buyout; the company ultimately decided not to sell itself to The Carlyle Group.
caption: Don Prudencio Unanue and wife[4]
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