The history of Jumex, from the blue can to an art museum
Jumex was born in 1961 in Ecatepec with a canned peach nectar and twenty employees. Six decades later it is Mexico's largest juice processor and funded one of the most important contemporary art collections in Latin America.
The blue Jumex can is one of the most recognizable objects in any Mexican refrigerator. But behind that peach nectar lies a story that connects two worlds that rarely meet: the mass juice industry and avant-garde contemporary art. From a packing plant in Ecatepec to a museum in Polanco, the story of Jumex is that of a family that went from peaches to Warhol.
1961: a nectar, a can and twenty employees
Jumex was founded in April 1961 by Eugenio López Rodea, who at age 26 canned the first peach nectar in 150-milliliter servings. The business started with just about 20 workers in Ecatepec de Morelos, in the State of Mexico, on the industrial outskirts of the capital.
The name is a simple, memorable contraction: Jumex comes from Jugos Mexicanos, Mexican Juices. That first blue can, introduced in the 1960s, would become the brand's symbol. One detail is worth clarifying, as it is often confused: López Rodea founded Jumex; his father, Vicente López Resines, founded La Costeña, the large canned-goods company. The family stands behind two giants of Mexican food.
The juice empire
Over the years, Jumex grew into the most important juice and nectar processor not only in Mexico, but also with a strong presence in the United States. The company came to operate in around 40 countries across five continents.
- Annual sales estimated around 850 million dollars per Bloomberg data for 2020, with figures exceeding 1 billion in some reports.
- Close to 2% of annual grocery sales in Mexico, a market worth more than 210 billion pesos.
- A workforce that grew from 20 workers to more than 4,000 employees.
- A range centered on nectars and juices, with peach and apple as flagships.
From juice to art: the Jumex Collection
The most unexpected part of the story was written by Eugenio López Alonso, the founder's son and heir to the group. In 1994 he bought his first artwork and that same year co-founded a gallery in Los Angeles. What began as a hobby became one of the largest private contemporary art collections in Latin America.
In March 2001 the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo was formally established, with the backing of the López family. The first exhibition space, Galería Jumex, was located inside the juice plant in Ecatepec itself: avant-garde art among production lines.
If people were coming to an old factory on the outskirts of London, they could come to mine in Ecatepec. — Eugenio López Alonso, on placing his collection in the industrial periphery
The Museo Jumex in Polanco
On November 19, 2013, the Museo Jumex opened its doors in Nuevo Polanco, Mexico City. The building was designed by the British architect David Chipperfield, in what was his first commission in Latin America. The Jumex Collection brings together thousands of works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Gabriel Orozco, Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois and Damián Ortega, among many others.
The museum turned the family behind the juice into patrons of international stature. López Alonso also sits on the boards of institutions such as MOCA in Los Angeles and the New Museum in New York, and his support drove the acquisition of contemporary Latin American art in the United States.
What Jumex's story leaves behind
The story of Jumex is that of a family business that dominated an everyday product and then used that fortune to leave a cultural mark. Canned peach and avant-garde painting seem like opposite worlds, but both were born from the same discipline: doing things at scale and with a long-term vision.
For any business, the lesson is that a brand can be much more than its product. Jumex did not just sell juice: it built an institution that will outlast any can, and showed that well-channeled commercial success can also transform a country's cultural landscape.
Sources
- El Financiero — https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/empresas/2022/05/20/perfil-eugenio-lopez-rodea-el-creador-de-jumex-el-emporio-con-presencia-en-5-continentes/
- Fundación Jumex (History) — https://www.fundacionjumex.org/en/fundacion/historia
- The Art Newspaper — https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/08/eugenio-lopez-interview-museo-jumex-anniversary-mexico-city
- ARTnews — https://www.artnews.com/art-collectors/top-200-profiles/eugenio-lopez-alonso/
- Art Basel — https://www.artbasel.com/stories/meet-the-collectors-eugenio-lopez-alonso