Bueno Foods’ Founder Joseph Baca Inducted Into Tortilla Industry Association Hall of Fame

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/—Joseph Baca, who founded Bueno Foods in 1951 along with several brothers, was recently inducted into the Tortilla Industry Association Hall of Fame at their annual meeting in Las Vegas, NV.

The recognition, which honors pioneers in the tortilla industry, highlights the legacy of Joseph Baca’s innovations and entrepreneurial spirit, now carried on by his children, to share the culinary traditions of New Mexico through Bueno Foods’ authentic products.

Jacqueline Baca, president of Bueno Foods, said, “Our father was a creative thinker and ingenious executor of those ideas. We strive each and every day to continue his quest to preserve the culinary traditions of our heritage.”

Tortilla innovations pioneered by Joseph Baca include:

Automating tortilla production: In the 1950s, Baca had the idea to move beyond rolling out corn and flour tortillas by hand with the help of a pie crust roller.

Introducing tortilla sales to grocery chains and restaurants: Bueno Foods was the first to sell tortillas to Safeway and Piggly Wiggly stores in New Mexico in the 1950s. Baca also introduced his tortillas to restaurants, saving the cooks and owners the labor of making tortillas themselves.

First to manufacture blue corn tortillas: While now a hallmark in New Mexican restaurants, Baca initially scrambled to explain the benefits of the blue corn tortilla to his first restaurant and market customers.

Authentic corn grinding at production scale: Baca figured out a way to incorporate large lava rock metates from Mexico into tortilla machinery to grind whole kernel corn for mass-produced tortillas. Bueno Foods employs a Master Craftsman to maintain the grinding stones by hand, and is one of the few manufacturers who still grind corn in this traditional manner.

Creating healthy whole-wheat tortillas: In the 1970s, Baca was ahead of his time when he introduced a whole-wheat tortilla to the marketplace. The product was discontinued, but his children re-introduced it 30 years later and its popularity has soared.

Joseph Baca died in 1989, but his children carry on his values of quality, authenticity, customer responsiveness, innovation and hard work. Bueno Foods currently distributes more than 150 authentic Mexican food products to restaurant and retail clients throughout the United States. More history and recipes are available at http://www.buenofoods.com/.

Source: Bueno Foods
 

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