Carlos and Willie Tamayo have been named Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Persons of the Year for Northern California and will be honored May 16 during San Francisco’s kickoff of Small Business Week. The Tamayo brothers own and operate La Tortilla Factory in Santa Rosa, Calif., The family-run business was started in 1977 by Jose and Maria Tamayo, and their five sons. With only a handful of employees and a $50,000 SBA-guaranteed loan to finance equipment purchases 34 years ago, La Tortilla Factory today is a multi-million dollar business with almost 300 employees.
“I suppose the best advice I ever received was, ‘Keep your nose to the grindstone and don’t quit’,” says Carlos Tamayo, who serves as La Tortilla Factory’s president. “We’re very grateful for our success and we look forward to more growth and expansion.”
Beyond traditional flour and corn tortillas, the company has created low-carb, fat-free and organic products that can be found at most major retail food chains and independent markets as well as military commissaries. La Tortilla Factory makes more than one million tortillas a day.
In recognition of the small business community’s contribution to the American economy and society, National Small Business Week is celebrated each year in May. In choosing a Small Business Person of the Year, SBA looks at a firm’s staying power, steady growth, increase in sales, financial performance, product innovation, response to adversity and contributions to community-oriented projects.
