Home Grown in Puerto Rico Coming Soon to a Store Near You

TAMPA -- Don’t be surprised when over the next year you start to see Puerto Rican products in your local markets and stores. There’s over 100,000 Puerto Ricans in the area, and the Puerto Rican Chamber of Florida has heard from their people to buy local, buy Puerto Rican and buy American.

Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder is the president of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Florida, located in Sarasota.

Puerto Rican fresh mangos, plantains, coffee, specially raised Angus beef, eggs, guineos (small green and yellow bananas), yuca and ginger are just a few products heading to the Port of Tampa, straight from the island.

You first heard from Cuevas-Neunder in April in our feature story, “Puerto Ricans Born in Puerto Rico Must Apply for New Birth Certificates to Protect their Identity.” Now, she’s up to a new mission – importing Puerto Rican food.

She wants to help import more Puerto Rican food, and she said that between Manatee and Sarasota Counties, including the Tampa and St. Petersburg area, there are more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans. In and around the Orlando area, Cuevas-Neunder said her last count was 800,000.

“We have 1,000 families moving in monthly here,” she said. “We spend more than $100 a week on groceries. Food is very big part of our culture, and food is the number one product we want to focus on.”

She added that Puerto Ricans prefer to buy good and healthy produce that has been inspected and registered by the United States, a compromise made when people buy food imported from Central and South America.

This summer, the first import of Puerto Rican food will arrive via the Port of Tampa, a selected point of import because of its central proximity to Orlando, Tampa, Bradenton and Sarasota.

“The Puerto Rican import and export is going to impact the economy of the state of Florida in a way that has never been seen,” she said.

Vendors, business leaders, port experts and investors perused opportunity at "Inbound Trade Mission: Reaching Across the Oceans" event in Tampa. This summer the first Puerto Rican Famers' Market will launch and people will start to see the island's products from Sarasota to Orlando.

Three years ago, when Cuevas-Neunder started the local Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Florida, she said her vision was to bridge Puerto Rico to Florida.

“I can’t think of a better way to connect us all than through food,” she said. “First of all, I am very picky with the food I eat and with the food I provide for my family and friends. I know that our foods in Puerto Rico grow larger and that they are cultivated with a lot of love from our farmers.”

She said she’s disappointed with the edible goods imported from Central America.

“I don’t know who is growing them,” she added. “The size of the produce is so small and the price is so expensive, too. Puerto Rican food is bigger, better and less expensive.”

Recently, the Puerto Rican Chamber hosted a private conference in Tampa - "Inbound Trade Mission: Reaching Across the Oceans."

Over 25 vendors from Puerto Rico set up booths showcasing their food, while business leaders, port experts and investors perused opportunities to have a taste from an American island.

Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder is the president of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Florida. She is on a mission to create a bridge from Puerto Rico to Florida through food.

“There’s a great effort that is taking place with this,” said Bob Rohrlack, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s president. “I think any way we can work together is good for everybody, and we are content to look at how that can happen and if the Puerto Rican Chamber can be one of those bridges to connecting businesses with Puerto Rico.”

He added that by exploring different local opportunities, we are helping to strengthen a global market.

“It’s important to look for new opportunities for businesses to interact with each other and create a better business market through products,” he said.

Expect to hear about Florida's first Puerto Rican Farmers’ Market, opening this summer near the Port of Tampa. Signs and advertising for the fresh produce from Puerto Rico will start to show up from Sarasota, up to Tampa, and over to Orlando.

“It’s going to be the first time we present the products, and it’s gong to be an incredible and exciting event,” Cuevas-Neunder said. “It will be a spectacular market, where the population of the consumer base is going to be those people who make up the count of 900,000 from here to Orlando.”

Just imagine Puerto Rican fresh mangos, plantains, coffee, specially raised Angus beef, eggs, guineos (small green and yellow bananas), yuca and ginger that are all straight off the ship and from the island.

Cuevas-Neunder said local Puerto Ricans can certainly imagine, as they are not interested in purchasing sub-par food from far away Latin-American countries.

“The ginger that we have, when you compare it to the ones we have in the market, is just unbelievable,” she said. “The size and the juiciness of our ginger is incredible. We say buy products cultivated in Puerto Rico. Since Puerto Rico is a part of the United States, we say buy American.”