Vendor of the Year: 2006

La Bonita Ole, Inc

La Bonita Ole, Inc – proud maker of Tam-x-ico’s and Wrap-itz Tortillas and Wraps.

Congratulations to La Bonita Ole, Inc., who has been named the Giant/Martins/Tops Supplier Diversity Vendor of the Year for 2006. La Bonita Ole was selected from a growing number of suppliers currently doing business with Giant/Martins/Tops, who connected through the Department of Supplier Diversity.

What They Have Done!

Tammy M. Young, the company’s President & CEO, founded La Bonita Ole, Inc. in 1992.  When Tammy found to her amazement that there were few quality tortilla choices available in supermarkets, she formed the company to enter the Mexican Food Tortilla product category. This category continues to experience exceptional growth and is projected to outpace the growth of all other baking industry segments.

La Bonita offers two exciting tortilla brands using the highest quality ingredients. The ¡Tam-x-ico’s!® brand, a gourmet refrigerated flour and corn tortilla line, is a premium restaurant quality tortilla offered to the retail store. Wrap-itz® is a shelf stable premium line consisting of flavored wraps as well as traditional corn and flour. Utilizing a new, innovative flavoring technology these wraps offer greater taste, aroma, appearance and rollability than other similar products currently available on the market.

Ready to respond to consumer demand, La Bonita Ole recently introduced My Choice! Nutritional Program to both brands. My Choice! first introduced — 100% Whole Wheat with Omega 3, Calcium and 10 Whole Grains; White Wheat with Omega Calcium and Fiber; and Sun-Dried Tomato with Lycopene and Calcium. All products are 95% fat free and have no cholesterol, trans-fat, or saturated fat. The My Choice! logo is prominently displayed on the front of each package.

In early 2007, during their 15th anniversary, La Bonita Ole’s brand new, state of the art flour and corn production facility in Tampa, opened it’s doors for production. The new 40,000 square feet tortilleria has space for production and warehousing with bulk commodity handling for corn and flour and a custom cooling room designed to drop tortilla temperature for packaging.

Production capacity for flour and corn tortillas is over 70,000 cases per week. Among the more exciting, high tech features are the “Vision System” that photographs each tortilla for quality and automatically rejects non-standard product, and the metal detection/check weighing system that automatically rejects metal contamination and short-weight product. The latest generation Hartmann bagger uses a unique jaw and vacuum system that leaves the tortillas untouched by production associates until after the bag is sealed. The facility incorporates an on-site lab and is Kosher certified.

La Bonita Ole’s management brings over 200 years of food industry experience with major corporations, in wholesale and retail sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. La Bonita Ole, Inc.’s business strategy is to:
1. Provide consumers with the highest quality product choices available, in the food product categories we participate in, at a competitive price.
2. Exceed our partner’s expectations with superior service and sales support.

We thank La Bonito Ole,  for their continued proactive partnership, with Giant/Martins/Tops, and also congratulate them on their proactive support they show their community and  the consumers we both serve.