1 August 2005 - INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. – Catalina Specialty Foods, a leader in Hispanic foods technology and tortilla development, and Sunny Fresh Foods, Cargill's value-added egg business, have created a joint venture that will produce flour and corn tortillas for the retail and foodservice markets. The venture will be known as Catallia Mexican Foods, LLC.
Located in Inver Grove Heights, Catalina is serving foodservice customers in the United States and Canada, Catalina has been in the Hispanic foods business for more than 20 years.
Headquartered in Monticello, Minn., Sunny Fresh produces value-added egg-based foods primarily for the foodservice industry. A subsidiary of Cargill, Sunny Fresh has processing facilities in Monticello, Big Lake, MN. Lake Odessa, Mich., Mason City, IA., and Panora, IA.
"The Hispanic foods market is growing at a impressive rate, and we must be prepared to address the increasing demand for high quality, convenient, and authentic products,” said Cathy Cruz Gooch, president, of Catalina. “This joint venture will have the resources to serve that growing demand." Cruz Gooch, who co-founded a local tortilla brand in 1985, has been actively involved with Hispanic foods for much of her professional career.
Catalina is a private company that is certified as minority owned by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), one of the country's leading business membership organizations. The NMSDC was chartered in 1972 to provide increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes.
Catallia Mexican Foods will manufacture tortillas under a new brand name at a facility located in Eagan, MN. Sunny Fresh will have a minority equity ownership and has supply, food safety, processing systems and food service marketing expertise. Mike Luker, president of Sunny Fresh, said: “Our capabilities in risk management and distribution experience will enhance performance and responsiveness to a rapidly growing Hispanic market.”
Luker and Cruz Gooch said the joint venture partnership reflects a commitment by both companies to customer focus, cultural diversity and community development.
In 1999, Sunny Fresh became the first food manufacturing company to be a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige Award is overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The Baldrige is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive.