La Chiquita Tortilla, a family-owned and operated tortilla manufacturer, was founded in 1979 by a Mexican immigrant with a mission to provide high-quality tortillas and chips to local restaurants. Today, La Chiquita is one of the largest food manufacturers in the Southeast dedicated solely to tortilla production, selling millions of cases annually to quick service restaurants, fast casual establishments, food service distributors, national retail labels, and local Mexican restaurants.
La Chiquita’s Atlanta headquarters include a 120,000 sq. ft. tortilla manufacturing facility on 10.9 acres of land in Atlanta Industrial Park. Its current product lines include flour tortillas, corn tortillas, hand cut-chips, and wraps. The company is planning to expand its offerings to include hard-shell tortillas, but food regulations around allergens require that this process take place in a separate building from non-fried food production. To meet this requirement, La Chiquita is constructing a 45,000 sq. ft. building directly adjacent to its existing Atlanta facility to house its new hard-shell operations.
The AEMI NMTC financing supported the purchase of equipment that will be used to manufacture hard-shell tortillas in the new building. This includes the purchase of the main manufacturing line as well as a corn flour processor, metal detection systems, and other equipment necessary to producing its new product line. The building itself will be financed outside of the NMTC structure.
The project is expected to create 54 and retain 190 full-time positions paying an average wage of $21.03/hour at La Chiquita’s Atlanta headquarters. All employees are eligible for comprehensive benefits including health, dental, vision, and life insurance; a flexible spending account; and a 401(k)-retirement plan with 3% employer match. Employees also receive referral bonuses when the company hires referred workers. La Chiquita’s Atlanta workforce is also 90% minority.