Profiles of prosperity: Northgate marketing director Dr. Lupillo Ramírez

My original intention with this interview with Dr. Lupillo Ramírez was to highlight the phenomenal experience of shopping at Mercado Northgate but when he told me about his theory on “recognition,” I thought about how universal it was in our personal and professional lives to hold so much investment in “recognition.” Lupillo says, “I have a funny story about a friend I saw at CostCco the other day. He had gone down to Ecuador to survey the cacao fields, and when he met a cacao farmer in the middle of nowhere in Ecuador, that man asked him where he was from. My friend told him that he was from Los Angeles. The guy said, “Do you know Lupillo?” That, to me, is a byproduct of prosperity. I get satisfaction, and it feels good, especially if people remember you in good standing.”

This interview was conducted at Mercado Northgate in Costa Mesa. 

Please describe your childhood home?

It was in a traditional small Mexican town called Jalostotilán, Jalisco. Our home is red with a rough finish—doors with thick frames. In the place where Tequila comes from, you have the lowlands (Tequila, Jalisco) and the highlands (Los Altos de Jalisco). Our town was in the highlands. I lived there with my mom and my siblings. It was a rental. I am the third of six siblings. Dad was a bracero who went to work in the artichoke fields of Castroville. He was a gourmet farmworker! He would come home once a year. My father took my eldest brother to work in the fields with him first, but the work did not agree with him, and eventually, my father moved to Orange County. After some years, my father worked hard to bring us all over through the proper channels.

Where were you economically in relation to others in Jalos?

We were modest. My mom managed the resources really well. We had enough to go to private school, but we were not in the higher echelon of Jalos. We had doctors and entrepreneurs in town who were recognized as more prosperous than us, but the divide wasn’t very noticeable. Both of my grandparents lived in the city of Guadalajara, but even still, I didn’t notice the divide at the time. I would look at other people’s houses, and even when it was nicer than ours, I seemed to focus on my father’s hard work and my mother’s sacrifice more so than notice anything we might have been missing.

Do you have an immigration story to the United States?

I arrived in Anaheim in 1978. They had built these rental apartments, which were mainly for Latina/o families, along the 91 freeway. They called them Chevy Chase. It was near Manzanita Park. I became an avid learner and focused on my education. I excelled in school. I left Anaheim to go back to Jalos for a few years while I was in high school, and by the time I got back, I was too old to graduate, and I had to get a G.E.D.

Can you summarize your educational journey?

I started at Fullerton College, but I married young, and I started to work at a market in La Habra called Northgate at the age of 21. When I turned 44, I asked the Gonzalez family, the owners of Northgate, if I could return to school. They supported me first with my Associate's degree at Fullerton College. Then, my Bachelor's at Pepperdine. Then, my MBA at Pepperdine. Then, my Doctorate at The University of La Verne. I may be the only person with a doctorate in the grocery business, but technically, it is a doctorate in education. Thanks to the Gonzalez family and Northgate for all of this support. I am really grateful to them.

What does your home look like present-day?

The home that I am in now is my third home. I have risen on the economic ladder since I purchased a condominium in La Mirada in 1990. Today, I live in the typical middle-class single-family residence of the 60s and 70s. It is a nice, well-kept area. It is off-white and grayish with flat stucco. It has a stack stone facade. A large yard/mound in the front. I live in this house with my wife and two of my three children. One of my kids no longer lives in the home.

Who is better off, ten-year-old Lupillo or Lupillo today?

Health is the most important. A roof over our heads. My siblings and I bought a home for our parents because they would never have been able to afford it. I have a great job, an excellent education, and great friends. I have recognition, which makes me very successful, so I say Lupillo, today. I have a funny story about a friend I saw at CostCco the other day. He had gone down to Ecuador to survey the cacao fields, and when he met a cacao farmer in the middle of nowhere in Ecuador, that man asked him where he was from. My friend told him that he was from Los Angeles. The guy said, “Do you know Lupillo?” That, to me, is a byproduct of prosperity. I get satisfaction, and it feels good, especially if people remember you in good standing.

Dr., I want to talk to you about something that I think nobody has recognized. I interviewed Betty Porto years ago. At the time when I interviewed her, the bakery was in Glendale.

But in a short time, they opened enormous bakeries in both Downey and in Buena Park. These bakeries were exponentially more advanced than any other bakery in Orange County.

Then, several years later, in 2023, Northgate opens a supermarket in Costa Mesa that is light years more advanced than any other grocery store in the most luxurious area codes of Ssouthern California.

Cubans and Mexicans are leading this grocery industry! How do you think that happened?

If you go to Mexico, they sometimes like to create shopping experiences that look like European models or American models. There isn’t a luxury supermarket in Mexico that looks to create a Mexican experience. We are the first to make a luxury supermarket that looks more Mexican than any store in Mexico! I like to say that we are so Mexican that it doesn’t even exist in Mexico! The common denominator for our families is that we build stores to provide for our customers. We are not building stores to provide for our investors. We are in servant leadership for our customer base and our community. We sit around and think: Our customers are going to love what we build, and that is what drives us. As experts in Mexico, we gave Mexico to the community.

Where is Mexico in your life now?

We all married people from Jalos. My wife is from Jalos, but my suegra passed, and she was the last person from that generation. I don’t see myself going back. Our lives are here now.