By Eric Brown
The Internet was still in its infancy in 1996 when Jonathan Harris and his father, Don, began LaTienda.com. It was a decision with foresight; their business of gourmet Spanish foods took off with the Internet.
“We were running a tile business and decided to see if there was an interest on the Internet for buying a Serrano ham from Spain,” says Jonathan, vice president of Williamsburg-based La Tienda. “The ham was finally being allowed into the United States for the first time.”
Jamon Serrano, as it is formally known, is a dry-cured country ham that is part of the culinary culture of Spain.
“There weren’t many people on the Internet back then, but about 50 to 60 people quickly signed up for the ham,” says Jonathan. “In those early days, a UPS truck would back up to the garage and we’d throw a ham in the back.”
They quickly found there was an untapped—and voracious—appetite for the ham and other food products from Spain.
“People began to ask for sauces, olive oil and other products from Spain,” he says. “The business just grew organically from there.”
Soon joined by Jonathan’s older brother Tim, the Harrises continued to add to La Tienda’s menu of Spanish gourmet products, which now totals nearly 900. The business grew so quickly that the family closed its tile business just two years after the sale of that first ham.
There’s no Spanish blood in the Harris family. Their business was inspired by their love of Spain.
“We lived in Spain in the 1970s,” says Jonathan. “My father was stationed there as a chaplain in the Navy. We started the business as a way to share our love of all things Spanish.”
Today, La Tienda operates a distribution center in Williamsburg for the United States and Canada. It also has a budding business in Europe, served by a distribution center in Spain. La Tienda ships about 200 orders a day through most of the year, though orders peak around 3,000 a day in December. In 2003, they added a catalog, printing a million copies a year. The catalog works hand in glove with the website.
La Tienda also just opened a retail store, which Jonathan sees as a big opportunity to grow the business. “We have high hopes for the store,” he says. “The market for Spanish products is so new here.”
Looking ahead, he says the biggest challenge is dealing with La Tienda’s growth.
“We are growing to the point where some of our systems are getting stressed,” Jonathan says. “We now have to think about where we are hosting our server and who is servicing it, where to put our investments, and changing our coolers.”
In addition, the Harrises, who built their shopping cart and website from scratch, find keeping up with technology an annual challenge. “Each year we must do some kind of redesign to our site,” Jonathan says. “Each time you finish, you say, ‘Yes, it’s done!’ And then, ‘Let’s start again!’ ”
He credits the success of La Tienda to the different and complementary talents each of the three owners brings to the table.
“When my brother Tim joined La Tienda, the business really took off,” Jonathan says. Tim handles the technology operations and business development.
Jonathan oversees the website’s design, catalog process and customer interaction.
He holds special appreciation for their father, Don, who is chairman of the board. “Our dad is pretty much the soul of the company and its face to the world. He is very interested in the business and keeps us focused on what’s really important. He’s an amazing dad in that he sets the tone but helps Tim and me talk things through—and lets us run the business.”
It’s apparently a recipe for success.
