Nostalgia for taste and preservation of gastronomic tradition are factors that drive Ecuadorians who emigrate to new destinations. That’s what Hernán Rivera did. Four years ago, he settled in the American state of New York with his wife and two children, and for three years he became one of the suppliers of crabs and other Ecuadorian products to his compatriots, through his company HR Corp.

Crab is the most popular, followed by clams, shrimp and manabita cheese, but they also have alfajores, peanut paste, donuts and roscone, among others. Initially I got a shipment every fortnight, currently there are two weekly quotas of a maximum of £500. The price of a bundle of 14 units, according to the distributor, ranges from $50 to $75. A pound of cellulose costs from 20 dollars, and a pound of nails up to 35 dollars. For HR Corp., selling cancer represents $10,000 in monthly profits.

The Ecuadorian guinea pig is found in the United States, where it can be found on racks and farms at prices ranging from $23.99 to $60

Rivera is a native of La Troncal (Cañar) and remembers that it all started as a gastronomic venture through social networks, since his wife mostly likes to prepare typical dishes from the coast, she is from Guayaquil, so this hobby became the first step in offering onions and ceviche.

To prepare these dishes, they started looking for “legitimate Ecuadorian” products, but they were very “scarce”. He states, as an example, that instead of albacore in the United States, there is tuna, which, he says, is similar, but the taste is different. “So an onion dish made with that fish is very different from one made with albacore,” he says.

Roscones manabitas are imported into the United States. Photo: Courtesy

The venture was launched and welcomed by the Ecuadorian community in Westchester, New York County; however, a job offer was presented to him in a different city (Manhattan) than the one he originally lived in and they had to relocate. He graduated in educational sciences with a major in Computer Science and Programming and studied electrical engineering for two years, the latter of which he has been doing since coming to this country and combines that activity with his current job.

By moving to another city, they did not want to lose the armed infrastructure on social networks, so the person who was just opening the restaurant was given the slogan they used: “El encebollado guayaco”, and after the agreement that they would be the suppliers of products for the place, the idea was born to bring the products from Ecuador, but to fulfill that goal they teamed up with the importer, CCV, Corporación Cedeño Veloz.

At prices ranging from 69 cents to more than $30, Ecuadorian products are sold in supermarkets in the United States

After the agreement, they demanded exclusively Ecuadorian products and in turn began to negotiate with exporters from Ecuador. The crab was in the first shipment: 120 bundles that were initially ‘alive’, but due to the weather, climate and did not arrive naturally 100% alive, they changed the modality and now in Ecuador they have cooling chambers. “So 24 hours before the airline gives the open letter about the number of pounds or kilograms needed to import, they go into cold storage,” he explains.

The first import they made was by air and it has remained so until now, they have two quotas per week of a maximum of 500 pounds. The products they carry are mostly from Manabí: alfajores, processed peanut paste, Peruvian chiles, 30-40 pound sheets of Manaba cheese, donuts and roscones. From seafood: crabs, whole sea bass and sea bass fillet, picudo, shrimp, small face, camotillo fish and shellfish.

Peanut paste imported by HR Corp. Photo: Courtesy

The crabs they sell to their U.S. customers are from Naranjal and Balao, because the supplier gets them from there, Rivera says, while the other products are from Santa Elena.

According to Compatriot, the sales margin is between 100 and 150 bundles of crabs per week, with which he covers three states: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Crabs are sold in four ways:

These prices have a big difference compared to those sold in Ecuador, currently a package of crabs of between 12 and 14 units is between 15 and 20 dollars, according to the president of Ecuador’s artisanal fishing sector, Gabriela Cruz.

The compatriot distributes crabs not only in bundles, but also sells pulp and nails by the pound, for which he takes up to 100 pounds each month. The pulp from Ecuador is vacuum-sealed, and the nails are in bags, which hold 24 units.

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Nails with home delivery cost $35, and if the customer goes to pick up, the price is $28, while the price of pulp with home delivery is $28, and if the customer goes to pick up, the price is $20.

The shell comes to his eye of 50 units and he sells them by the dozen. If the client wants at home, the cost is $15; for those going to the distribution center, the value is $14; and for distributors and entrepreneurs USD 10.

Compatriot states that 99% of his clients are Ecuadorians, while 1% are of other nationalities, but are “married to Ecuadorians”.