Festida Foods, Grand Rapids, Mich., April 2013
Founded nearly 25 years ago to fulfill a need for Mexican food in western Michigan, Festida Foods in Grand Rapids, Mich., comanufactures and copacks private-label tortilla and corn chips for retailers and wholesalers in the Midwest and on the East Coast. We visited the company earlier this year for our April 2013 Tortilla Trends Special Report.
Festida Foods
Festida Foods
Festida Foods moved into a 65,000-sq.-ft. space in Grand Rapids’ Union Station Industrial Park in August 2011. The new facility will enable the company to grow as needed.
Festida Foods
A pledge displayed prominently in Festida Foods’ entryway proclaims the company’s mission.
Festida Foods
Kyle Curtiss, CEO and president of Festida Foods, shows off some of the company’s many private-label tortilla chips.
Festida Foods
A Festida Foods employee opens 50-lb. bags of flour at the head of one of the company’s two production lines. The company uses white, yellow, blue and specialty corn, depending on the desired end product.
Festida Foods
Flour, water and minor ingredients are combined in a mixer to make the masa.
Festida Foods
After the masa goes through a pre-sheeter and sheeter, the dough it cut into the desired shape.
Festida Foods
After they’re cut, the tortillas are toasted and then quickly fried.
Festida Foods
Tortilla chips exit the fryer and gently convey to a state-of-the-art, multi-lane distribution system.
Festida Foods
Sensors calculate help determine flow rates and how quickly the product moves toward final packaging.
Festida Foods
After leaving the cooking room, the chips head toward the packaging area, where they’re metered through revolution gates and distributed to four seasoning/weighing/bag making stations.
Festida Foods
On-machine seasoning applicators apply topical flavor prior to packaging.
Festida Foods
A worker removes the packaged tortillas from a revolving carousel as they exit the bagging machines. The bags are packed into cartons, which are moved to the warehouse, where they will be picked up by customers.