La Tortilla Factory to close Santa Rosa plant after nearly 50 years
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - La Tortilla Factory is closing its Santa Rosa plant and moving 1,600 miles across the country to the heartland.
Flagship Food Group, which owns a large stake in La Tortilla Factory, told SFGATE that they're moving tortilla operations to Moundridge, Kansas, after they were unable to purchase the property they've been on since 1977. The Santa Rosa factory is expected to close on March 31.
"Relocating will safeguard LTF’s ability to make the best tortillas at fair prices while expanding its capacity to reach new customers and serve our existing customers," the company's statement read.
La Tortilla Factory currently employs 135 people, who have been offered severance packages, according to Flagship Food Group. Existing employees will also receive job search assistance while some staff positions will shift to remote work.
"We are selling tortillas across the nation, you know, 50 states. Canada, sometimes Puerto Rico, in Hawaii. We sell tortillas in Japan through distributors," said Senior Plant Manager Carlos Mojica.
"We call ourselves a family of employees, because we treat each other like we’re family, and we care about each other," VP of operations Katie Evans told KTVU in June. "We want everyone to succeed in this organization, so I think the culture has been maintained from the very beginning in 1977 on family, food and innovation."
A production manager named Lalo said this summer that his favorite part of the job was working with people.
"It is like coming to work with family," he said.
Miguel, a production mixer, said at the time: "We really do have something great going on here."
Flagship Food Group added that it's currently growing its warehouse and shipping operations in Kansas to increase La Tortilla Factory production. It hopes to complete the expansion by April.
Jose and Mary Tamayo started the business as a delicatessen.
"They had food, like a small restaurant, and some spices, different things from Mexico," senior plant manager Carlos Mojica told KTVU in June. "They were getting so popular, they had a little machine making tortillas. Grandma was there making all these tortillas. Suddenly, they saw a huge opportunity."
Over the years, the Tamayo family expanded their tortilla products to feature a mix of both traditional corn and flour tortilla options, in addition to organic, low-carb, gluten-free and fat-free tortillas.
"The grandpas, the abuelos, had some challenges with health, so they thought about developing a fat-free tortilla," Mojica said.
Factory workers can pump out 1.2 million tortillas in a day, Mojica said.
KTVU anchor Pam Cook and reporter Tom Vacar contributed to this report.