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Fresh tortillas on demand Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Tortilla-maker Francisco Pedraza Jr. of Tortilleria Lolita in Phoenix prepares fresh tortillas for Soco�s La Burrita Restaurant in Phoenix. Company makes them daily By Tony Boom PHOENIX � Hot tortillas are available on demand at a new business that offers the Mexican staple fresh daily. Co-owner Teresa Santillan says Tortilleria Lolita fills a need for fresh tortillas. She and her husband, Ricardo, started the business at 105 E. First St. six weeks ago. The tortillas are also available at three Mexican food stores and three restaurants in the valley. "We determined there were no good tortillas (locally), so we decided to go to Mexico, purchase a machine, and make tortillas," said Teresa Santillan. General manager Francisco Pedraza Jr. supplied the firm�s name in honor of his grandmother. His family operates a tortilla business that dates back to 1911 in Acambardo, Guanajuato, Mexico. Before the Santillans purchased one of the $12,000 to $14,000 Mexican tortilla machines, they developed a business plan with Susana Montalvo, a counselor with Southern Oregon University�s Small Business Development Center. The plan examined financing, taxes, marketing and other business elements. Market research included interviews with restaurant operators and questions for the general public. The research showed overwhelmingly that people wanted to buy fresh tortillas. Ricardo Santillan and Pedraza took a business course offered in Spanish by the Southern Oregon Women�s Access to Credit organization. "Mainly they kind of opened up your eyes," said Pedraza. "What is it going to take to get into business?" A loan from People�s Bank though the Small Business Administration supplied financing to purchase the tortilla machine and a masa mixer. It also paid to lease the company�s site. The Santillans picked up the machine in Tijuana and brought it to Southern Oregon. A technician flew in from Mexico City to put it together. The 15-foot-long, 3-foot-wide machine operates on propane and electricity. Mixed masa is placed in a hopper that feeds a unit that stamps out tortillas in various sizes. The tortillas are then carried along three different belts where they go though three cooking cycles before emerging for packaging and sale. The machine can consume up to 200 pounds of masa per hour � enough to make 3,000 tortillas. Pedrazza says packaged tortillas in stores can be anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks old. Larger tortilla makers put in additional preservatives above minimum government requirements, but that changes the flavor, he adds. Tortilleria Lolita products have just the minimum amount of preservatives. Customers can buy tortillas the same day they are made. They can even wait for hot ones to be produced by the machine at their request. "Lots of Hispanic men pick them up after work," said Teresa Santillan. In addition to tortillas, customers can buy mixed masa if they want to make tortillas at home. Some people buy as much as 25 pounds of the masa mix at a time. Masa mix costs 65 cents per pound, while the cooked tortillas go for 75 cents per pound. The company gets stone-ground masa, a white corn mix, from a firm in Madera, Calif. Water is added just before the tortillas are made. Three Mexican restaurants are also using Tortilleria Lolita products. The firm makes different kinds of masa for the restaurants for use in chips, tamales or other items. The restaurants are Guadalajara and El Gallo in Medford, and Soco�s La Burrita in Phoenix. Teresa Santillan says the firm is concentrating on walk-in and restaurant customers right now, but eventually plan to go into more grocery stores. "If all goes well, we could get a flour tortilla machine in a year," said Santillan. "It�s a completely different type of machine." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.