Why a 70-year-old flour brand is suddenly surging in popularity among Gen Z

• Corn flour brand Maseca was one of the top brands among Gen Z consumers, per Numerator.
• People of Hispanic heritage make up a quarter of Gen Z, a larger share than any previous generation.

One of the fastest-growing brands among Gen Z isn't an adaptogenic beverage or a new face cream: It's a corn flour that got its start in rural Mexico in the late 1940s.

Maseca ranked fourth on Numerator's list of the top Gen Z brands of 2022. The list included brands that grew quickly during the year and were more popular among Gen Z consumers than the general population. The list was dominated by companies founded in the last several years, such as feminine care brand The Honey Pot Company and prebiotic soda maker Olipop.

Maseca, by contrast, has been around for a while.

The brand got its start in 1949 when Mexican businessman Roberto González Barrera and his family started milling corn. They produced flour using nixtamalization, a process that involves cooking dried corn and soaking it in food-grade lime before processing. The resulting flour gained popularity as the key ingredient for tortillas and other staples of Latin American cuisine.

TikTok has gained popularity in part for the cooking videos that users post, and recipes that call for Maseca are no exception. A search of the brand on TikTok shows videos telling cooks how to prepare gorditas, tortillas, and other Latin American foods.

A Numerator spokesperson told Insider that demand among Hispanic Gen Z consumers was enough to push it onto the list.

In 2022, "89% of Maseca's Gen Z sales growth came from Gen Z Hispanics, compared to 60% of total Maseca's sales growth coming from Hispanics," a Numerator spokesperson said.

People of Hispanic heritage make up 25% of Gen Z, the Pew Research Center reported in 2020. That's higher than any previous generation. Roughly 17% of millennials claimed Hispanic origins in 2003, the year when members of that generation were the same age as Gen Z. For Gen X, the number was just 12%, according to Pew.

"This shouldn't be too surprising as Gen Z Hispanics care about heritage when purchasing food," the spokesperson added. Fifty-four percent of Gen Z Hispanic households consider heritage important to which foods and beverages they buy. That figure is 37% for all demographic groups.