Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - December 2008 - (Page 10)

Continued from page 8 “Our tortillas have a silky texture to them,” he explains. “Their texture is ﬂuffy. You’ve have had to have eaten a homemade tortilla before to know what I’m talking about. They’re pretty darn close with their home-style look and taste.” Millions of Tortillas Each week, Pete says, Albuquerque Tortilla Co. produces about four million tortillas, or roughly 200 million per year. Flour varieties account for about 75% of volume with the 30-count family pack of 8-in. home-style tortillas as the top seller. The company also produces 8-in. whole wheat, 9.5-in. burrito-size and 6-in. gordita ﬂour tortillas for the retail market. Meanwhile, the company’s corn tortillas come in 6-in. white, yellow and blue varieties with the 90-count of white corn tortillas as the most popular. The plant also makes unfried tortilla chips, which are shipped in 25-lb. boxes and cooked at restaurants before they’re served hot to customers. Like its ﬂour tortillas, New Mexicans prefer a speciﬁc type of corn tortilla that’s different from what is popular in other states. “We’re primarily a stone-ground state,” Chris notes. “For our taco shells, corn tortillas and enchiladas, it’s still stone-ground corn. You move next door to El Paso or Phoenix, they’re made with corn ﬂour.” To complement its branded business, Albuquerque Tortilla Co. co-packs and produces private label products for a variety of customers. In all, the company makes about 80 SKUs (stock-keeping units) that are sold not only to retail, but also to restaurants, schools and other foodservice outlets. Retail sales account for the bulk of its business, Chris notes, but foodservice sales have become a larger part of the company’s operation over the last ﬁve years and remain a big opportunity in the near future. “We have not gone after the foodservice business that much,” Chris says. “We’ve barely tapped into that market.” At a Glance Company: Albuquerque Tortilla Co. Location: Albuquerque, N.M. Products: Flour tortillas, corn tortillas, unfried tortilla chips, taco shells and Hispanic prepared foods, including tamales, burritos, salsa, chile sauce, spices. Annual Sales: $24 million Plant Size: 189,000 sq. ft. No. of Employees: 300 Web site: www.albuquerque-tortilla.com KEY PERSONNEL President & Founder: Luther Martinez Vice President: Rose Martinez V.P. Sales & Marketing: Chris Martinez Dir. of Operations: Pete Martinez Dir. of Human Resources: Tammy Ramos Price Coordinating Mgr.: Robin Martinez Warehouse/Distribution Mgmt.: Edmundo Ramos Plant Production Mgr.: Ramona Lira Sales Mgr.: Dan Doto Regional Sales Mgr.: George Devine Independent and warehouse distributors ship the products throughout the Southwest, speciﬁcally New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, parts of Texas and soon in Southern California. Locally, some establishments might get shipments of the still-warm tortillas three or four times a day, seven days a week. Typically, the products have a seven-day shelf life in local markets or a 21-day shelf life for more distant or small markets. “At one point, we had our own routes,” Chris notes. “But we ﬁgured the way to go was to concentrate on one thing and do that well, and that would be manufacturing. There are enough challenges with the manufacturing part of our business without having to worry about distribution as well.” More Than Just Tortillas But don’t let the Albuquerque Tortilla Co. name be misleading. In addition to millions of tortillas, the company has been making a wide variety of prepared foods and frozen entrees. “One day, Pete said, ‘You know, we’re C Continued on page 12 10 Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - DECEMBER 2008 w www.snackandbakery.com http://www.albuquerque-tortilla.com http://www.snackandbakery.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - December 2008

Snack Food &�Wholesale Bakery - December 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Now, That’s Haute! Bigger ‘n’ Better But Is It Art? New Products Branching Out Engineering Management Fits to a T Racing to the Finish The Final Word

Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - December 2008

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