October is here and nearly gone and with Halloween right around the corner, we here at Sovereign think it’s time to shine a spotlight on one of our most Spooktacular team members Horacio Arellano (Or H as we call him).

H started his journey in the flavor industry by working for a pet food company as an R&D Technician. For 6 years he worked alongside Jose Barba running new formulations for dry pet food. Jose ended up leaving the pet food company to work with us at Sovereign, and after some time he knew that H would be a great addition to the team and recommended him for a position. Now, nine years later H is our production manager making sure production is running smoothly with incoming and outgoing flavors. He describes his job similar to that of an airplane conductor, figuring out where one plane can land and another to leave.

H is definitely an out of the box thinker and it shows in his work every day, but even more so for our Halloween festivities. H has always had the Halloween spirit, especially with his kids having their birthdays around October. He started a collection of Halloween decor by creating party decorations for his kids. When his son was in first grade, H started participating in the school’s trunk-or-treat event, where he used his crafting skills even more. That same year Sovereign had their first Halloween party, and as fate would have it, H still had his trunk-or-treat decorations in the car. So, he woke up early and decorated the conference room before anyone got to work.

 It was such a hit that H has been decorating for Halloween the past five years. Creating new themes each year from Halloween Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, Ghostbusters and Nightmare Before Christmas. He re-uses some decorations that he has made in the past and even some store-bought inflatables; the Mickey pumpkins that are on display at Sovereign Flavors were made for his son’s first birthday.

H puts so much love into his decorations and each one has its own story behind how he made it and why. His passion for this holiday is more than just props and candy, it’s for his family and good time together and we at Sovereign are grateful every year to be a part of his ghoulishly delightful displays. When asked what flavor represents Halloween to him H replied with: