Los Fresnos athletes use time away from sports to start their own business

By BILLY WATSON
LFN

LOS FRESNOS – Two high school wrestlers put their heads together one day and decided to start their own business and create a signature salsa.

Los Fresnos senior Eric Zuniga and sophomore Hunter Thompson, whose parents own a business, got the idea to use their parents’ commercial and licensed kitchen to create their own salsa.

Lori Thompson, Hunter’s mother, said the family grows peppers in their own garden, which sparked the idea to jump in on the salsa idea.

“I guess that’s kind of where they started thinking there,” Lori said. “They’re young and kind of have the mentality, the business mentality, and they wanted to earn a few extra bucks.”

When the Rio Grande Valley started seeing cases of COVID-19 and the area went into quarantine mode, a family decision was made in the Thompson household for Hunter to help at the family store and at farmer’s markets.

Eric joined in and the two got to work on making salsa.

With Hunter’s father, Adam, providing tips and helping launch Hunter’s and Eric’s small business, the salsa, called Falcon Hot Salsa, was concocted with practice batches and the family acting as test tasters.

Falcon Awesome Foods, the name of the company they created, stuck to home since Hunter and Eric are high school students at Los Fresnos High School, and the two wrestlers made the name official. So far, the product has been selling well.

In addition to the salsa, the duo has created a Falcon Awesome Tomato Sauce and soon plan to start selling a Falcon Awesome Limeade.

“We would like to build a brand of Falcon Awesome foods using locally sourced ingredients when available, and also a line of healthy snacks and drinks under that brand as well,” said Hunter. “The salsa was just the start.”

Hunter’s mother noted that their products are turning some heads.

“They have been selling quite a few jars there at the store,” Lori said. “They have not brought it out to market, like farmer’s markets, but I know that in-store, they have been selling quite a bit at True Food Market.”

True Food Market, where the products are manufactured, is located at 9610 W. Expressway 83 in Harlingen, just off the White Ranch Road exit heading toward La Feria.

With the boys being around the store, Lori said the boys have picked up on what running a business is like.

“Really, these boys have an entrepreneurial spirit,” Lori said. “Being around the market, being around the food manufacturing, it kind of just sparked their interests.”

For more information about Falcon Awesome Foods, visit its Facebook page @falconawesome.