You know the economics of California, a State with millions of Hispanic residents when a tortilla factory is moving to Kansas. Kansas has TOTAL of 2.9 million people—and its Hispanics population is 11%–300,000. The city of Santa Ana alone, a completely Hispanic city, has a population of 310,000!
“After more than 40 years in the Bay Area, one of the region’s largest tortilla makers is packing up production and moving out of California.
La Tortilla Factory in Santa Rosa will produce its final batches of corn and flour tortillas at its 75,000-square-foot plant in the coming weeks before relocating production to Mountridge, Kansas on March 31, as announced by Idaho-based parent company Flagship Food Group. It purchased a majority stake in La Tortilla Factory in January 2021.
Also note that the company HQ is NOT in California, it is in Idaho. Like a lot of California firms, the road out of State is now getting crowded.
47-year-old tortilla factory ditching Bay Area for Kansas
Story by Mario Cortez , MSN, SF Chronicle, 2/7/24 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/47-year-old-tortilla-factory-ditching-bay-area-for-kansas/ar-BB1hWEuV
San Francisco Chronicle
47-year-old tortilla factory ditching Bay Area for Kansas
After more than 40 years in the Bay Area, one of the region’s largest tortilla makers is packing up production and moving out of California.
La Tortilla Factory in Santa Rosa will produce its final batches of corn and flour tortillas at its 75,000-square-foot plant in the coming weeks before relocating production to Mountridge, Kansas on March 31, as announced by Idaho-based parent company Flagship Food Group. It purchased a majority stake in La Tortilla Factory in January 2021.
The North Bay Business Journal first reported the news. The Chronicle could not immediately reach Flagship Food Group for comment.
Flagship considered options to keep the site in operation, according to the North Bay Business Journal, but the cost of buying land to expand was “prohibitive.” La Tortilla Factory currently employs 135 workers in Santa Rosa. The company will retain employees who can work remotely and offer severance packages and job search assistance to the rest.
Flagship also owns Mountridge, Kansas tortilla manufacturer Tortilla King and is currently building a production and shipping project near the manufacturer’s production site to consolidate its production lines. The plant is slated to open in April.
As documented by the company, Jose and Mary Tamayo founded La Tortilla Factory in 1977 as a taqueria that also sold Mexican spices, sauces and fresh corn tortillas. The company began distributing their tortillas to supermarkets in 1978, steadily expanding into more markets and increasing its product lines to include flour and hybrid tortillas. The Tamayos closed their original taqueria in February 1988 to focus on tortilla making. La Tortilla Factory broke ground on its current Santa Rosa production facility in February 2004.
