Bigger than bagels: tortillas - Business: Erasmo Ponce

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, April-May, 2003 by Anita R. Savio

Who would have thought the day would arrive when Americans from Maine to Mississippi and from Oregon to Oklahoma would be wolfing down, to the tune of over five billion dollars a year, those flat, round patty cakes known as tortillas?

But it is true. Tortillas, whether of flour or corn, are more popular in the United Slates today than bagels, and have become as American as apple pie.

Thanks in part to the cultural diversity and culinary inventiveness of plain ordinary folk, tortillas have become the cream and egg of the crepe, the pastry of the pierogi, the crust of the quiche, the wrapping of the wonton, the flied dough of the fritter and the pie of the pizza in a host of recipes that have brought the tortilla on a long journey from its origins among the Maya, about 10,000 years before the birth of Christ, to the tables of mainstream America.

That long journey would not have reached this happy point if it were not for a few visionary entrepreneurs who recognized the need for a better and more consistent quality of product. Such a person is Erasmo Ponce, owner and founder of Tortilleria Chinantla.

"When I started out in 1992, the tortilla market was controlled by, a few large companies that had been in the business for 15 years or more. Their output was huge, but they weren't worried about quality control."

Ponce realized that he could make a better product. "I look my product to the lab for pH, bacteria, humidity tests, all of that. And I also changed our logo to make it more attractive and marketable. In the second year of doing business, I was selling double what I had sold the first year."

Ponce's journey to tortilla manufacturing involved almost as much of a metamorphosis as the tortilla itself has undergone. He was born into a poor family in the town of Chinantla, in the Mexican state of Puebla. His father died when he was still in grade school, and his mother had to struggle mightily to make ends meet. While Ponce was still in junior high, his mother left the family to come to the Untied States to work, regularly sending money home so he could continue his studies.

Upon graduation from high school, Ponce entered the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico in Mexico City, where he earned his degree in architecture. "I think what motivated me was that a lot of people from my town would go to the city to work as construction workers. My father had wanted me to study mechanical engineering. But when I got to Mexico City and saw the buildings, I fell in love with architecture."

After graduating, Ponce went to work for a construction firm and married in 1978. When the peso took a nose-dive and the economy continued to worsen over the following years, he needed to supplement the Family finances. A part-time teaching job helped for a while, but not enough. Ponce had previously worked for brief stints in the United States and decided to try his luck again, initially with no intention of staying. But fate had other plans for him. Alter a couple of low-paying factory jobs, a friend turned him on to a tortilla factory that was just starting up.

"I started to work as a driver, delivering the tortillas to New Jersey, Boston, Rhode Island--areas where there were Mexican communities. I was working very hard and knew all the routes, but I wasn't making enough money. So, I spoke to my friend and suggested we start up our own factory. He said, 'OK,' and so we each put up half and bought a small, used, tortilla machine."

The two started out sharing space in another tortilla factory, producing by night while the daytime production was shut down. But then Ponce found a small space for rent in Brooklyn.

"It was dirty and in very bad shape. But I began fixing it up, little by little, and finally we were able to leave the other place, which wasn't really our own, and that was how Tortilleria Chinantla was born."

"Nobody knew our brand, and we had to compete with the big factories. When I would make sales calls to potential customers, they would say', 'These tortillas are no good, the others are better.' But I had faith and perseverance."

At the end of the first year, he and his business associate parted ways amicably. Ponce stuck with the business.

"We sold around $75,000 of tortillas the first year, which we divided between us. By the second year, I was on lily own, and I sold about $150,000. By the fifth year, I had purchased new equipment with computerized temperature controls, and I started producing larger quantities of very good quality tortillas."

The big companies, by then, were beginning to Iota markets to Chinantla. Surprisingly they did nothing to improve or increase their own production. "That was a mistake they made," he said. "They were overconfident."

Ponce's lowly beginnings and initial struggles paid off when tie wanted to keep tabs on the competition. "I'd go to their factories. I knew the guys who worked there, and the drivers were my friends. They would tell me about the poor quality tortillas that were coining off the production lines."