Vanessa and Nora: From $250 to the First Central American Brand on Costco Shelves

When Vanessa Faggiolly stepped off the plane in California on December 28, 2003, she was 20 years old and carrying $250 in cash. Nothing else. But she carries her father’s words with her, words she has never forgotten.  “This is the last of what I have. I know you'll make it, like you always do.” It wasn’t a naive beat. Her father started his life fixing bicycles beneath a tree and went on to build one of the largest auto body and paint shops in El Salvador. Vanessa had grown up alongside him, helping along the way. 

Ten days after arriving on January 7th, she found a job selling clothes at Express. The following Monday, she enrolled in a community college. From then on, her life fell into a narrow, demanding routine: long shifts, steady work, and a non-negotiable commitment to finish school. Years later, that discipline paid off.  She graduated from California State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Five years later, after Vanessa’s arrival, another plane arrived in Los Angeles, this one carrying her mother, Nora Saca. Newly divorced, Nora arrived instantly on the verge of personal collapse. But she also arrived with decades of business experience. She had grown up immersed in commerce, built and run a fashion house, worked in made‑to‑measure tailoring, and spent time at TACA. Starting over wasn’t theoretical for her. It was something she knew how to do. 

In 2008, an opportunity arrived in an unlikely form. 

Amerisal Foods, the first company founded under CAFTA‑DR to import Salvadoran products into the United States, was up for sale. By then, the company was already bankrupt. What remained was a grim inventory: one employee, one aging pickup truck, and 80,000 pounds of Salvadoran cheese about to expire.

The night before the deal was signed, mother and daughter took stock of what they were walking into. There was no capital cushion, no customer base, and no experience navigating the American food market. From the outside, it looked like madness. They saw an opportunity. “No, don’t shut it down. Sell it to us,” Nora recalls telling them. “We knew the potential—Salvadorans wanted a little piece of home.” 

They signed the papers and went straight to work.

Eight Years Chasing Costco

The next morning, they hit the streets of Los Angeles, literally. For seven days straight, they walked Pico Boulevard  block by block, knocking on doors because the cheese was on the verge of spoiling.  The major supermarket chains  dismissed them immediately. To bust buyers, “Latino” still meant “Mexican.”  Then Liborio Market said yes. The first yes unlocked others.  Vallarta followed. Then Northgate, Superior, and Super King.

In 2012, they registered Perla, a brand wrapped in the Salvadoran flag.  Nora designed the first package herself and continues to redesign it. The package's journey mirrors the complexity of the business: printed in China, shipped to El Salvador to be filled, and then sent across the Pacific to the United States. “I'm going to put together a book of every package I've changed,” says the company's current CEO.

Today, Amerisal Foods operates in five states and carries more than 60 products, up from just four. But  landing Costco wasn’t a breakthrough moment; it was persistence.  Vanessa spent eight years knocking on that door.  There were certifications, permits, audits, and rejections.  “They ask you for everything, down to your camándula,” Nora jokes. She develops the recipes and oversees quality. “I sleep easy knowing that nothing I load onto my container is going to make anyone sick. Not out of fear of a lawsuit, but out of morals.”

Vanessa, now CFO as well and a graduate of Pepperdine University’s Executive MBA program—and the first in her family to earn a college degree—handles the finances, logistics, and negotiations with retail chains. On weekends, however, both mother and daughter are back at the demo tables, handing out samples of refried black beans. Shoppers stop and say, “Oh my God, they did it. They’re at Costco.”

During one demo, a truck driver walked over carrying a package of Perla in his cab, heating it in the microwave for lunch. “They’re just like the beans my mom used to make,” he told them. For Nora, that moment captures everything: “There are so many people behind a single pound of cheese.” It’s that web of people, Vanessa admits, that has led them to turn down buyout offers. Selling Amerisal Foods would mean unraveling that entire web.

Eighteen Years as Partners

They’ve been partners for 18 years—a mother-and-daughter arrangement that often fractures families and breaks businesses. Theirs keeps growing. Vanessa sums it up in two words: respect and gratitude. There is formal agreement, no playbook. Just a mother who values what her daughter brings to the table and a daughter who understands that experience like her mother's isn't taught at any university.

For years, Amerisal carried the inherited label of being the first company founded under CAFTA‑DR. 

They found it bankrupt, with an old pickup truck—one they still remember fondly—and a load of cheese about to expire. 

Today,  Amerisal carries a different label, one they built themselves: the first Central American brand on Costco shelves.

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