The Deal
El Mexicano® Brand, the flagship Hispanic foods label of Marquez Brothers International, Inc., has signed a multi-year partnership with Los Angeles Football Club that makes the dairy-and-meats brand the club's first-ever back-of-kit partner. The El Mexicano® logo will appear on the back of all LAFC first-team jerseys, placing the brand in front of MLS audiences at BMO Stadium and across global broadcast markets for the duration of the agreement.
The placement elevates El Mexicano® into LAFC's so-called Golden Boot Club of elite partners — a tier designed for brands with deep community alignment rather than purely transactional media buys. For Marquez Brothers, it is the most prominent sports-marketing activation in a portfolio that already spans a multi-year agreement with Soccer United Marketing and the Mexican National Soccer Team.
Brand and Distribution Context
Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Southern California, Marquez Brothers operates seven manufacturing facilities, 17 offices and distribution centers, and places product in more than 10,000 retail doors across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The company employs approximately 1,400 associates and carries a brand roster that includes Rancho Grande®, San Juan®, Sabor Cool®, La Toña®, Latin Fusion®, and YoGusto® alongside El Mexicano®. The portfolio spans authentic Mexican cheeses, cremas, yogurts, processed meats, beverages, and pantry staples — categories with sustained volume growth as Hispanic consumer households continue to outpace general-market demographic growth.
For foodservice and retail buyers tracking branded ingredient and specialty dairy sourcing, the LAFC deal signals that Marquez Brothers is investing aggressively in brand equity on top of its manufacturing scale. Increased consumer brand recognition typically supports shelf-space negotiations at retail and can reinforce operator preference in Hispanic foodservice segments where brand provenance carries purchasing weight.
Activation and Outlook
Beyond the jersey placement, the partnership calls for in-stadium activations at BMO Stadium, fan-facing community events, and digital and social integrations tied to LAFC matchdays. LAFC Co-President and Owner Larry Freedman described the brand selection as intentional, citing El Mexicano®'s alignment with the club's Los Angeles community identity and values around authenticity and quality.
For the broader Hispanic foods and beverages category, the partnership underscores how specialty ethnic-food manufacturers are leveraging major-league sports platforms to accelerate mainstream visibility — a distribution-adjacent strategy that mirrors moves by larger CPG players in tortilla, salsa, and snack categories. With MLS viewership demographics skewing heavily Hispanic in gateway markets like Los Angeles, the back-of-kit placement offers Marquez Brothers efficient reach into its core consumer base at a moment when the sport's U.S. commercial profile is expanding rapidly.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
