Art's Molino & Market, the Kansas City, Kansas, tortilla, chip and sauce maker formerly known as Art's Mexican Products, is still milling nixtamalized masa at 615 Kansas Ave. under Mark and Marissa Gencarelli, the founders of James Beard Award-winning Yoli Tortilleria, Startland News reported (opens in new tab) on Aug. 18. The couple bought the business in 2022 from Rachael Gutierrez Kelley, daughter of founders Arthur and Angela Gutierrez, who opened Art's in 1961, Startland reported. KCUR carried the same account (opens in new tab) on Aug. 22.
"We've made tweaks, but the core products remain the same, with no change in the recipe, no short cuts in the ingredients or techniques," Marissa Tapia Gencarelli told Startland. The new name nods to more than 30,000 pounds of corn milled each week at the Kansas Avenue factory, she said. Art's tortillas use only corn, water and lime, and the tortillas, chips and sauces are gluten-, dairy-, nut- and preservative-free, Startland reported.
The latest distribution push put Art's into 53 Whole Foods Markets, with new packaging graphics by Kansas City artist Frank Norton, Gencarelli told Startland. The brand also sells through regional grocers including Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, Sun Fresh, Hen House, Payless Discount Foods and McKeever's, and online, the outlet reported. The factory retail space on Kansas Avenue stays open to the public.
The Kansas City Business Journal on Nov. 4 headlined (opens in new tab) further national expansion plans for the Art's brand under the Gencarellis; that article is paywalled, so those newer claims are not used here.
Art's Molino & Market Yoli Tortilleria
Read the release / full story at Startland News; KCUR (opens in new tab)