GUEST CORNER

A lifetime of success

by Joseph Semprevivo

New Mexico foods. Just the thought sets our taste buds tingling (and sometimes our eyes watering). Where else in this great country can be found such gastronomical diversity from fine wines-with the bottles personally and elegantly decorated to celebrate your special occasion-to everyday staples like corn and flour tortillas to be used for the humble taco or the gourmet wrap that has become so popular?

Fourteen years ago, my family and I were blessed and inspired to begin our food business amid these great traditions and spectacular tastes. But our purposes were more specific. We were looking for a sweet snack that was delicious and nutritious but could fit into a healthy diet for someone with diabetes like me.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1980 at age 9, my diet had to change immediately. I suddenly had to go without sweets, which was especially difficult because my father owned an ice cream shop.

I found that I didn't have much of an assortment of tasty snacks that fit into my diet. In 1984, my father and I developed a recipe for a sugar-free ice cream. We decided to try to sell the ice cream, but found it was difficult to distribute frozen foods. That's when we started to experiment with sugar-free cookies.

We began to manufacture our first variety-vanilla-in a small factory in 1986. At that time, we could only bake six pans of cookies at a time for a total of 11 cases a day.

When demand increased, we moved to a bigger factory with more ovens. Finally, we bought a cookie production line to automate the system, which can put out 10,000 cookies an hour or about 11 cases a minute.

With the low-fat, sugar-free concept inspiring many healthy diets and lifestyles today, we realized that we would be able to reach and please a greater market than people with diabetes alone. We succeeded.

Meanwhile, the supermarket shelves were being flooded with products that seemed to make the same claims. Everywhere were labels that touted sugar free, fat free, heart smart, low fat, high fiber, good for you, or absolutely the best for you.

Over the years, the public has gone from counting calories to counting carbohydrates to counting fat grams, but is still basically consuming too much. However, I see that more and more consumers are realizing that a lifelong pattern of eating healthy food in moderate portions is consistently more successful than any fad diet.

Bon appetit!

Joseph Semprevivo is the chief executive officer of Joseph's Lite Cookies, a 44,000-square-foot cookie factory in Deming. The cookies can be found in all 50 states and 12 countries. The company also produces brownies, cheesecakes and a new sugar-free syrup.