How this founder kept his masa supply chain company alive after losing half of his staff to COVID-19 layoffs

• Jorge Gaviria is the owner of Masienda, a single-origin masa supply chain.
• Despite facing many unexpected challenges during the pandemic, Gaviria managed to increase Masienda's sales by expanding its e-commerce model.

Masa - dough produced from stone-ground corn, transformed into tortillas and tostadas - is a multi-billion dollar industry. The problem is that most masa production relies on environmentally damaging agricultural systems that often strip the corn used of its flavor and health benefits.

When Jorge Gaviria learned of this while working in the restaurant industry, he set out on a quest in search of flavor and a holistic connection to corn in 2014. He ended up finding both in Oaxaca, Mexico, where he met farmers whose families had been growing maize for generations. From there he established a masa supply chain and launched his company Masienda, which is based in Los Angeles, CA. The business connects hundreds of independent heirloom farmers with restaurants, chefs, and consumers worldwide.

"Oaxaca was a very natural place to end up," Gaviria said. "The purity and expression of what I was looking for were fully present there, and the more I started to dig into what made that great flavor possible was what sold me. Plus, there was a way to create a positive impact in a community that really benefited from sourcing masa."

Ever since commercialized hybrid corn became popular in the US, heirloom farmers have found it challenging to compete. Masienda partners with them to help preserve their crops, culture, and wisdom. Because these farmers keep biodiversity at the forefront of their practices, there are more options for flavor. And the fact that they are subsistence farmers - meaning they grow food for their own consumption - ensures great attention to detail and long-term thinking in their work.

"The farmers we work with have been practicing regenerative agriculture for thousands of years before it became a buzzword," Gaviria said. "And it's not just the farmers that we're supporting directly through the purchase of corn," he said. "There's also a whole cottage industry emerging in the community."

Pandemic pivot

At the start of 2020, the Masienda team was excited about expanding and opening a new service for restaurants. But when the global pandemic hit, those plans came to a screeching halt. Throughout COVID-19, Gaviria has had to make some difficult decisions to stay in business, such as laying off half of his US-based team.

"It felt like our whole identity, and our whole existence was over," Gaviria said. "We were fixated on what wasn't in our control anymore, and we lost sight of what was in our control, which was an amazing opportunity for e-commerce and the Home Cook experience."

The Home Cook experience Gaviria is referring to is one of the new educational materials that Masienda created during the pandemic. This direct-to-consumer expansion, along with the creation of other new products geared towards preparing meals at home, has increased Masienda's e-commerce revenue by 30 to 40% and allowed him to continue to support heirloom farmers and their communities.

The power of partnership

Developing new products or services is an important, yet challenging task for many small businesses due to budget and cash flow constraints. Gaviria has overcome this challenge by maximizing his business card cash back rewards to help grow his business and launch new products, such as his tabletop masa mill. Since its inception, the tabletop mill has established an entirely new revenue stream for Masienda - which has inspired Gaviria and his team to explore additional products that they can develop with the help of their cash back rewards.

Gaviria also credits his Capital One Spark Cash Plus card, which lets business owners earn unlimited 2% cash back and has no preset spending limit, while giving them purchasing power that adapts to their business. This has allowed Gaviria to be strategic about pre-purchasing key supplies, especially with the pandemic introducing challenges from shipments to crossing borders.

"If we didn't have a partnership with Capital One and we weren't using the Spark Cash Plus card, everything we've been able to do for our business would have been a lot more difficult," Gaviria said. "Thanks to using the card, we had a lot more flexibility in how we were able to alter our spending."

Additionally, using the card during the pandemic has shown Gaviria and his team the value of choosing the right partners. "We see Capital One as more of a growth partner than a credit card company," he said. "We were able to reinvest the cash back rewards into a whole new line of business that's growing exponentially."

Based on his experience with the Spark Cash Plus card, Gaviria hopes he can help other entrepreneurs realize they don't need to go to extreme lengths to expand their businesses.

"I think a lot of entrepreneurs believe that the only way to expand is to sell a significant part of their company or take on a large amount of debt," he said. "What we've figured out is that cards like the Spark Cash Plus card enable you to do more than just get your money back. We really treat our card like an innovation account. It helps us take calculated risks, and it makes the experience more fun."

And at the end of the day, the pursuit of fun, flavor and community, while preserving the culture and traditions of heirloom farmers in Oaxaca is what inspired Gaviria to create Masienda in the first place. Despite the ups and downs of the pandemic and having to let half of his US team go, he's been able to create ways for people to make masa from home and enjoy corn that's good for the planet and people.

"It's fair to say that the restructuring of the team has made us stronger and more resilient than ever," Gaviria said, "We're very tight as a unit and the momentum coming out of the height of COVID-19 has been very inspiring to everyone on board."

Find out more about how the Capital One Spark Plus Card can help your small business.

This post was created by Insider Studios with Capital One.