Topic

Tortillerías & local business

Briefs on neighborhood tortillerías, family tortilla factories and restaurant tortilla operations in the U.S. and Mexico. They cover prices, closures, food safety, new brands and the people who ran these businesses. 11 stories, newest first.

Plants & People

Belvidere's Raíces Tortilleria Factory cuts its hours to remodel a new space amid strong weekend demand

Raíces Tortilleria Factory in Belvidere, Ill., makes up to 1,000 pounds of tortillas on its busiest weekend days, MyStateline reported Oct. 14. The family shop, owned by Rosa Ochoa, plans to move into a new building next summer, the station reported. The shop's own posts say the new space, next to Ochoa Income Tax Service, is being remodeled and has no official opening date, and the shop has cut back to Friday-through-Sunday hours during the work.

Source: MyStateline (WTVO); Raíces Tortilleria Factory
Companies: Raíces Tortilleria Factory
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Plants & People

Jesse's Tortilla Factory in Waco, open since 1958, is still run by the founders' family

Jesse's Tortilla Factory in Waco, Texas, opened in 1958 by Jesse and Esther Contreras, is managed today by their grandson, Santos Rodriguez Jr., KWKT FOX 44 reported Oct. 14. Rodriguez told the station the plant makes about 45,000 corn tortillas a day, and the company says it supplies about 35 area restaurants.

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Plants & People

Marquez Bakery in Arlington, Texas, runs a flour tortilla factory alongside its panadería and restaurant

Marquez Bakery, opened in 1990 by Jose Marquez as a small storefront in Arlington, Texas, now includes a panadería, a flour tortilla factory and a restaurant, the City of Arlington said in an Oct. 14 profile. His daughters have run it for more than 25 years since his death.

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Commodities

Guerrero tortilla makers move price decision to December as out-of-state corn costs climb

Follow-up: Guerrero's masa-and-tortilla trade group now says it will decide in December whether to raise tortilla prices, after saying in early October that it would hold them through year-end. Members are buying corn from Sinaloa, Jalisco and Michoacán at up to MX$10,500 a ton and have asked the state for a corn-purchase subsidy, En Primer Plano reported.

Source: En Primer Plano
Companies: Industriales de la Masa y la Tortilla de Guerrero
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Commodities

Mexican tortillerías hold prices as flour and corn costs bite in Sinaloa and Guerrero

Following our Puebla–Morelos roundup, regional masa-and-tortilla groups report fresh cost pressure. In Sinaloa, the industrialists' federation says flour rose MX$450/t in February, sales are down as much as 30%, and 42 tortillerías closed (11 since reopened); the group is seeking federal/state help to hold the kilo near MX$29. In Guerrero, drought cut local maize output by as much as 60%, pushing Costa Chica corn to MX$9,000–10,000/t from MX$6,500–7,000 and forcing purchases from Sinaloa, Jalisco and Michoacán at about 30% more; industrialists say they will hold prices through year-end. In Chiapas, where nearly all shops run on flour, the group says flour suppliers have not raised prices and the kilo holds at MX$18–25.

Source: El Sol de Chilpancingo
Companies: Federación de Industriales de la Masa y la Tortilla (Sinaloa), Industriales de la Masa y la Tortilla de Guerrero, Industriales de la Masa y la Tortilla “Somos Chiapas”
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Products

East L.A.'s La Reina revives its brand with rolled tortilla chips

La Reina, founded in East L.A. in 1958 by Bracero Program veteran Mauro Robles, will bring its brand back in late October with gluten-free rolled tortilla chips in chile lime and elote flavors, The Eastsider reports. Chief growth officer Mauro Gomez, Robles' grandson, says the flavors were inspired by street-vendor ingredients. The brand left shelves in the late 1980s–early '90s, but the factory kept making private-label tortillas. La Reina acquired Anita's Mexican Foods in 1978 and employs about 300 people across two locations. The chips launch online, at farmers' markets and at East L.A. retailers.

Source: The Eastsider
Companies: La Reina, Anita's Mexican Foods
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Plants & People

Denver chefs scale in-house masa: La Diabla’s Ocho Hileras and Alma group plans

Rocky Mountain PBS (Oct 5) profiles Denver’s scratch-corn push. Jose Avila (La Diabla) plans tortillería Ocho Hileras on an adjacent property, telling RMPBS it would produce more than 3,000 tortillas per hour versus ~1,300/day in-house now. Johnny Curiel’s Alma group plans its own tortillería to control masa for its Michelin-recognized concepts; small molinos (Don Zorros, Dos Caras) already supply chefs. Foodservice-adjacent craft capacity, not a wholesale plant deal.

Source: Rocky Mountain PBS
Companies: La Diabla, Ocho Hileras, Fonda Fina Hospitality, Don Zorros Molino, Dos Caras, Raquelitas
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Commodities

White-maize squeeze lifts tortilla prices in Puebla and Morelos

Puebla-region masa/tortilla industrialists say April–May harvest reserves are largely gone and private white maize jumped about 29.7% in roughly a month (≈MX$7,400 to MX$9,600/t), with tortilla averages near MX$18/kg and room for MX$19–20 in Puebla/Amozoc. In Morelos, the sector council ties drought scarcity to maize near MX$9,000/t and some shops at MX$30/kg (to MX$32 with delivery). SADER still says inventories are adequate. Framed for U.S. trade readers as white-maize cost context.

Source: Cholula Digital
Companies: SADER, Cámara Masa y Tortilla Puebla-Tlaxcala-Veracruz, Consejo de la Masa y la Tortilla Morelos
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Regulation

UASLP study finds aflatoxin B1 in sampled San Luis Potosí tortillerías

A Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) study detected aflatoxin B1 in samples from 16 of 30 tortillerías in the San Luis Potosí capital. State health officials say Coepris keeps permanent sanitary surveillance of tortillerías and corn mills; a fuller inspector-sampling readout is expected in roughly one to two months.

Source: Pulso SLP
Companies: UASLP, Coepris
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Plants & People

La Famosa owner Eliseo Mendez Torres dies at 88

Eliseo Mendez Torres, owner of La Famosa DRC Tortilla Factory in Kingsville, Texas, with his wife since 1972, died Jan. 26, 2025, at age 88. He retired in 2022 after roughly 50 years serving the community and surrounding South Texas region.

Source: Turcotte-Piper Mortuary
Companies: La Famosa DRC Tortilla Factory
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Plants & People

Alaniz Tortilla Factory founder Rosario Alaniz dies at 92

Rosario Alaniz, original founder and owner of Alaniz Tortilla Factory in Brownsville, Texas, died Nov. 18, 2024, at age 92. The family tortillería was described in her funeral notice as a cornerstone of the family’s success in the Rio Grande Valley.

Source: Sunset Memorial Funeral Home
Companies: Alaniz Tortilla Factory
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