This successful Hispanic food industry business developed its product line from family tradition.

La Dorita’s dulce de leche is an all-natural, preservative free, homemade spread made with fresh from the farm milk provided by local creameries in Pennsylvania. This authentic Argentinean recipe is a treat for the whole family.

In 2009, Josephine and Gaston Oria wanted to share Josephine’s grandmother’s recipe with the world, and they took the steps to make their dream a reality.

Origins of La Dorita’s  Hispanic business

The guiding forces behind the creation of La Dorita’s dulce de leche were a passion for baking and keeping a family tradition alive.

This Hispanic business journey of La Dorita began more than forty years ago when Josephine Oria’s adventurous father, Oliver and mother, Beatriz left their home country of Argentina in 1974; a country they loved, but believed had limitations for their aspirations and their future.

Dr. Oliver Caminos came to the United States to pursue a Cardiology Fellowship at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family of eight settled in a community outside of Pittsburgh with long established Latin American roots and culture.

When Dorita, Josephine’s grandmother came from Argentina to visit the family, Josephine was side by side with her in the kitchen cooking. And like most grandmother’s Dorita cooked with love and intuition – and without recipes.

Years later when Josephine married Gaston Oria and started their family, Josephine began her Hispanic family traditions of her own. The Oria family birthday cake was one of these traditions. A key ingredient in this birthday cake was dulce de leche. Unfortunately Josephine could not always find a suitable dulce de leche, and when she did find one it had often been sitting on a store shelf for months, if not years.

As Josephine explains it, “Creating my grandmother’s dulce de leche was a calling.

Getting a Family Business Started

And so a journey began in their home kitchen, the epicenter of their start up business. In their kitchen the recipe was developed and many calls were made to source ingredients to support their commitment to a natural product.

One of their key ingredients was fresh, non-pasteurized milk. Reaching out to the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Josephine and Gaston were provided with the names of local farmers to supply the raw milk that would enable them to move ahead with production.

Josephine and Gaston named their product, La Dorita in honor of Josephine’s grandmother.

Now they had a name for their product; PASA’s Mia Farber suggested La Dorita become a guest vendor at the local farmer’s market.

It was at the local farmer’s market where Josephine met a buyer at Whole Foods. As a result of this meeting, La Dorita would come to be placed on the shelves of Whole Foods in and around Pittsburgh.