Three years ago, Antonio Esparza was selling Mexican candy out of a spare room on Amazon.
At the time, it was a side hustle for Esparza, a brand manager, and a friend who wanted to create a new business. It was fun for Esparza, who grew up with a big sweet tooth. His go-to candy was the Pica Fresa, a spicy strawberry candy.
When Esparza found himself without a job and his bank account getting low, he decided to give TikTok shop a try to make more money.
"By the first week of November, it was around the time that TikTok shop started, and I started hearing more and more about it," he said. "And I had the inventory. I was like, 'Holidays are coming up. I have nothing to lose. I have the inventory. Worst case scenario, I guess I just don't sell anything.'"
His 10th video showing what candies go into a candy mix bag went viral with 4 million views, and business quickly boomed.
"Over the week of Thanksgiving, we were packing orders," he said. "We had wanted to get away but we ended up packing orders. We started getting a lot of views and it was pretty crazy."
Thanks to TikTok, Esparza now has a warehouse business, Sabores de Mexico, located at 3465 Lee Blvd. Suite 251 in East El Paso. He hired family members, including his parents, and they ship candy all over the United States. Texas, California, New York and Illinois are among the top states he ships to. On the store website, they have taken orders from other countries like Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Esparza said he is living a dream, spending time with his family, while packing Mexican favorites like Mazapan, Bocadin and coconut bars. His store is open to El Paso customers and they still sell candy on Amazon.
"I knew we would have some success, but not to the level where we have a warehouse," he said. "We're like the top in food and beverage category on TikTok shop. Since we started, we have not left the top 100.
"We carry more than 200 Mexican candies, chips and dried fruit. There's a lot of Mexican and non-Mexican people that are really into Mexican candy. Here on the border and in big cities, they are easy to find, but there are people who have to go on Amazon or other online stores to look for it."
Esparza said they started getting their candy initially from Juárez, but as demand grew, they went to local distributors. Now, they get it from a mass distributor. They hope to one day be able to buy directly from major Mexican candy brands.
Esparza said he appreciates being able to work with family and around one of his favorite pastimes, eating candy.
He estimates they have sold over 170,000 units and last year they reached $1.7 million in sales not including all the costs from TikTok and Amazon.
"I grew up eating candy, probably shouldn't have, but once a day sometimes. It's just so good to see people that probably are in a place where they don't have a lot of access or easy access to Mexican products and to see that they appreciate us," he said.
"The number one thing I love about selling candy is reading people's comments about them growing up and eating the candy or family moments of enjoying chips together."
María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @eptmaria.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @eptmariacg on TikTok.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Sabores de Mexico: El Paso candy shop expands after going TikTok viral
