2007April 13,Friday,

CASA VALDEZ

• Local: Owner of successful Caldwell tortilla company started out by hand-delivering to neighbors

By Sharon StraussIdaho Press Tribune CALDWELL – Idaho tortilla industry pioneer, Jose Valdez, is celebrating 30 years of business Sunday with a celebration to thank the community for its loyalty and support throughout the past three decades. Valdez, owner of Casa Valdez in Caldwell, was a novice when it came to starting up and running a business 30 years ago. Last year, however, he was inducted into the Tortilla Hall of Fame by the Tortilla Industry Association, in recognition of his many years of involvement and accomplishments in the multibillion-dollar international industry. Over the years Valdez has seen many companies come and go. He credits much of his success to good timing in entering the market and manufacturing a product that has widespread appeal among Hispanics and non-Hispanics. In fact, tortillas are more popular today in the U.S. than bagels, English muffins and pita bread, with Americans consuming more than 85 billion tortillas in 2000. Tortilla sales in the U.S. reached the $4.4 billion dollar mark in 2000, according to the Tortilla Industry Association. “Now it’s not just Hispanics in the tortilla industry. Everybody wants to jump into it,” Valdez said. “For a small tortilla business (like us), it’s kind of hard to fight the competition like Mission, Tyson, Sara Lee.”

Humble Beginnings Casa Valdez tortilla factory began with a $14,000 investment in 1977. At that time Valdez was trying to support his wife and children as a crew leader out in the fields. Having grown up a migrant laborer, traveling to and from Idaho from his native Edinburgh, Texas, he was determined to make a better future for his family. “I felt running a crew wasn’t going to be enough to raise my kids,” Valdez said. “It got to the point where I had to decide what I had to do to try and give them something better than what we had. I felt I was strong, young and able to do something better than work out in the fields.” Valdez and his wife, Maria, had been spending their winters in California for a number of years. When visiting that state throughout the 1970s, Valdez began paying attention to what types of businesses were thriving among the Hispanic population there. Valdez remembered telling Maria, “We’ve saved a little money. I want to do something different.” He first considered a trucking business to do some hauling. Then he thought about opening a leather shop to sell Mexican items. He even toyed with the idea of becoming a mortician to serve the small but growing Hispanic populations of Caldwell and Burley. “Or,” he finally told his wife, “we could start a tortilla shop.”Perseverance leads to success Valdez could see the tortilla business was

booming in California at that time. In the early 1970s, there was barely any competition in that market, he said. It was hard to find a store that carried tortillas. Back then, “People didn’t know what an enchilada was,” he said. Then around 1975Taco Time and Taco Bellrestaurants started popp-ing up, introducing tacosand burritos to the non-Hispanic general public. “That’s how peoplehere started to be awareof what a tortilla was.That helped my businessto get going. It was goodtiming,” Valdez said. In 1974, however,just before the commercialization of the tortilla by the fast-food industry, Valdez’s first stab at starting a business was unsuccessful. He researched the market and the kind of equipment he needed. He located a site for his factory on Chicago Street, within walking distance of his Caldwell home, but he found himself a few thousand dollars short. The banks were hesitant to lend him money. “You are starting a business not knowing anything about marketing, not knowing anything about the tortilla business, and you don’t have any collateral,” he said loan officers told him. “Chances are you won’t get anywhere.” Valdez saved more money throughout the next three years. Finally in 1977 he had enough to buy the equipment he needed. All he needed now was the raw material, corn – and lots of it. This time the bank lent him enough money

to buy a truckload of corn, and Casa Valdez was born.

From novice to award winner Valdez continued working in the fields but made tortillas in his factory when it rained or when the wind was blowing and his crew couldn’t work. A dozen tortillas cost 29 cents, and he would take them out into the fields or pedal them to neighbors and to the residents of migrant labor camps. Valdez started selling more and more in the community, then to the mom and pop shops. At first convincing the stores to carry his product was a challenge. He persuaded store owners into letting him leave a few dozen at no charge to see if customers would buy them. Finally, major chain stores such as Safeway, Paul’s, Albertsons and M&W’s started carrying his tortillas. “It started getting so busy that I just couldn’t work out in the fields any more. My business was demanding more and more of my time,” said Valdez. At that time, he decided to stop working in the fields and devote all his time to making tortillas. Sales were up and the business was growing, requiring a series of expansions and the hiring of additional employees. “The business was like a puzzle. The little pieces kept falling into place. I just kept putting them into place,” he said. In 1989, Valdez was honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration as Idaho’s Small Business Person of the Year. The Association flew Valdez and his wife to Washington, D.C., to receive the award and meet Idaho lawmakers.

The honor surprised the former migrant laborer, who found himself in disbelief of his own success. “I’d never been that far east. I’d never dreamed of that. I was standing there on Pennsylvania Avenue. I never dreamed I’d ever be there.”

Still family-, community oriented A major 1992 expansion moved the operation from what is now a retail store to the 22,500-square-foot factory on 5th Avenue in Caldwell. Casa Valdez now serves local independent stores, restaurants and big chain companies. The product is run almost daily, with trucks delivering tortillas to eastern Oregon; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Elko and Jackpot, Nevada, where Casa Valdez products can be found in Cactus Pete’s resort and casino. Casa Valdez also sponsors scholarships each year, including the $1000 Jose and Maria Valdez Scholarship that is awarded at Boise State University. The company employs 66 workers, six of whom are family. Maria works there, oldest son Joe Jr. runs the production floor, middle son Jaime manages distribution in Magic Valley, youngest son George manages distribution in the Caldwell site, daughter Linda works in the office and Joe’s wife, Pat, takes care of invoices and payroll. “You could still say it’s a family-owned and operated business,” Valdez said.

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS

“I felt I was strong, young and able to do something better than ork out in the fields.”

José ValdezOwner, Casa Valdez