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The House that Cheese Built: The Unusual Life of the Mexican Immigrant who Defined a Multibillion-Dollar Global Industry by Miguel A. Leal
Category: Motivational Business Management, Business Motivation & Self-Improvement, Ebooks
Praise “Miguel Leal is a true pioneer. Back when he started out, nobody had heard of Mexican cheese in the U.S. He not only created, tested, and refined unique Hispanic cheese recipes, he also innovated new mechanized techniques to produce those cheeses, and established markets for them where none existed before. I told him he was crazy more than once, but Miguel taught me the meaning of never giving up when you have a dream.” ―JIM FAITH, CEO, Faith Engineering, Inc. |
ABOUT THE BOOK
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A quintessential American dream story from a Mexican entrepreneur who shares the tale of building a multi-million-dollar business from scratch, complete with both success and failure, and always a vision of hope.
Leal came to the U.S. penniless as a teenager, speaking almost no English; he literally slept in the boiler room of a Wisconsin cheese factory for months before he was caught. Through hard work, grit, and ingenuity Leal would go on to launch his own business. He is widely credited with introducing Mexican cheeses to the U.S. market and grew his company to a multimillion-dollar success story that defined an industry. Yet, like many successful entrepreneurs, Leal’s great successes were matched by personal failures: the end of a marriage; trouble with law enforcement; and the deeply felt sense that there must be something more to life than great wealth.
Leal’s memoir, The House that Cheese Built, is both a quintessential immigrant success story, one that beautifully illustrates the immigrant experiences: isolation, fear, and ambition for a better life and assimilation, as well as a thoughtful personal account of entrepreneurship and all its benefits and costs.
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A quintessential American dream story from a Mexican entrepreneur who shares the tale of building a multi-million-dollar business from scratch, complete with both success and failure, and always a vision of hope.
Leal came to the U.S. penniless as a teenager, speaking almost no English; he literally slept in the boiler room of a Wisconsin cheese factory for months before he was caught. Through hard work, grit, and ingenuity Leal would go on to launch his own business. He is widely credited with introducing Mexican cheeses to the U.S. market and grew his company to a multimillion-dollar success story that defined an industry. Yet, like many successful entrepreneurs, Leal’s great successes were matched by personal failures: the end of a marriage; trouble with law enforcement; and the deeply felt sense that there must be something more to life than great wealth.
- Read the astounding memoir of a Mexican immigrant who worked his way to success in the American cheese industry
- Find inspiration in Miguel Leal’s determination and refusal to give up on his dream
- See how Leal persevered in the face of obstacles and setbacks in his personal life
- Follow Miguel’s story as he finds peace, purpose, and grace—and realizes that money isn’t everything
Leal’s memoir, The House that Cheese Built, is both a quintessential immigrant success story, one that beautifully illustrates the immigrant experiences: isolation, fear, and ambition for a better life and assimilation, as well as a thoughtful personal account of entrepreneurship and all its benefits and costs.
Miguel A. Leal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MIGUEL LEAL is widely regarded as the “Godfather of Mexican Cheese” in the United States, Miguel Leal’s story humbly began at a cheese factory in his native Mexico as a teenager. When he was invited to travel to the United States as an apprentice, he jumped at the chance. One of six children raised in poverty after the tragic death of his father in an earthquake, Leal arrived in Wisconsin without money and speaking little English. He had no choice but to make a bed of cardboard on the factory’s boiler room floor.
Despite these challenges—through grit, persistence, and hard work—Leal observed and learned every step of cheesemaking, from cleaning the equipment to cutting and packaging cheese for sale. He was among the first to recognize that the growing number of Latinx immigrants in the U.S. meant there would be a market for specialty Mexican cheeses, and eventually partnered with a master cheesemaker from Wisconsin to work with the Amish in Ohio to produce and hand-sell 60-pound wheels of cotija cheese in the Chicago metro area.
The skyrocketing demand for his cheese led Leal to establish his own company, Mexican Cheese Producers, Inc. in 1994. He eventually constructed a state-of- the-art production plant in Darlington, Wisconsin—a prime location with access to the finest quality milk in the country. There, he continued to perfect recipes for a variety of Mexican cheeses and took out patents for the machines used to produce them. Leal eventually sold his business to the global company Sigma Alimentos, which still uses his recipes, and won the 2020 World Championship Cheese Contest with their flagship cotija cheese.
Today, Miguel is a successful real estate developer with a deep investment in his new passion project: supporting Mexico’s growing organic foods movement with a farm of his own, where he demonstrates sustainable organic farming methods to communities in his native country while supporting local charitable efforts. He is also keenly interested in developing a national dog breed for Mexico related to the Argentinian Dogo, a hunting dog suited to being a loyal pet and guard dog.
Website:
https://www.thehousethatcheesebuilt.com/
MIGUEL LEAL is widely regarded as the “Godfather of Mexican Cheese” in the United States, Miguel Leal’s story humbly began at a cheese factory in his native Mexico as a teenager. When he was invited to travel to the United States as an apprentice, he jumped at the chance. One of six children raised in poverty after the tragic death of his father in an earthquake, Leal arrived in Wisconsin without money and speaking little English. He had no choice but to make a bed of cardboard on the factory’s boiler room floor.
Despite these challenges—through grit, persistence, and hard work—Leal observed and learned every step of cheesemaking, from cleaning the equipment to cutting and packaging cheese for sale. He was among the first to recognize that the growing number of Latinx immigrants in the U.S. meant there would be a market for specialty Mexican cheeses, and eventually partnered with a master cheesemaker from Wisconsin to work with the Amish in Ohio to produce and hand-sell 60-pound wheels of cotija cheese in the Chicago metro area.
The skyrocketing demand for his cheese led Leal to establish his own company, Mexican Cheese Producers, Inc. in 1994. He eventually constructed a state-of- the-art production plant in Darlington, Wisconsin—a prime location with access to the finest quality milk in the country. There, he continued to perfect recipes for a variety of Mexican cheeses and took out patents for the machines used to produce them. Leal eventually sold his business to the global company Sigma Alimentos, which still uses his recipes, and won the 2020 World Championship Cheese Contest with their flagship cotija cheese.
Today, Miguel is a successful real estate developer with a deep investment in his new passion project: supporting Mexico’s growing organic foods movement with a farm of his own, where he demonstrates sustainable organic farming methods to communities in his native country while supporting local charitable efforts. He is also keenly interested in developing a national dog breed for Mexico related to the Argentinian Dogo, a hunting dog suited to being a loyal pet and guard dog.
Website:
https://www.thehousethatcheesebuilt.com/
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