The taste of guinea pig Azuayo reaches the United States: migrant company exports its first batch

Three Azuayan migrants invested USD 170,000 to build a guinea pig processing plant. The first batch of 800 units arrived this week in New York.

Guinea pig is one of the most sought-after products by Ecuadorians living in the United States. Now, an Azuaya company will bring this typical animal of the Sierra closer to migrants.

Mr. Cuy is the first Azuaya brand that exports guinea pig to the United States. It is located in the Gualaceo canton and works with about 500 producers in the rural areas of the province.

The first batch of 800 vacuum-packaged guinea pigs arrived in New York on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Adrián Gutama, CEO of the brand, told El Mercurio that the goal is to ship 1,000 units per month.

The project was born from three migrants, two who returned from the United States and one who resides there. A year and a half ago, they invested USD 170,000 to build a processing plant.

Galo Tenezaca, an agronomist, is one of the partners. He traveled last year to conduct market research in New York and Minneapolis.

“Our goal is to export a product that is raised in the traditional way. Remind the migrant of what their childhood was like, their life in Azuay, because we had the guinea pig in the kitchen,” Tenezaca told radio station Cenepa FM.

To promote the brand, Mr. Cuy hired advertising to appear on one of the giant screens in Times Square, the famous intersection of avenues in Manhattan, New York, as other Ecuadorian companies have already done.

Although it is the first Azuaya brand to bring guinea pig to the United States, there are already other companies that have ventured into that business. In 2018, a company from Loja made its first export of that product.

But in the United States, the market is dominated by guinea pigs of Peruvian origin. Azuayan entrepreneurs seek to compete with that product.