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| Mission Foods: Wrapped Up |
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| By Chris Petersen | |||
| Tuesday, 26 February 2008 | |||
 With annual U.S. sales around $2 billion, Mission Foods is the world’s leading producer of tortillas.
Still, the potential for tortillas is even greater, according to Vice President of Marketing David Garrett, and Mission Foods is working to make the tortilla just as indispensable to Americans as it is to Mexican cuisine. Garrett says the tortilla can be much more than a taco shell or burrito, and Mission is doing everything it can to see that it has a place in an American lifestyle that’s becoming more hectic and time-crunched every day. The company also works to keep its products relevant to the dietary needs and concerns of consumers. With net sales of nearly $2 billion in the United States, Mission is the “global leader in tortillas,” Garrett says. The company is a division of Gruma Corp., based in Monterrey, Mexico. Mission specializes in corn and flour tortillas, but also produces tostadas, tortilla chips and strips, salsas, dips and sweet snacks. Even though tortillas are most commonly associated with Mexican food, Garrett says attitudes toward them are changing as people find new and creative ways to use them. He points to examples such as McDonald’s snack wraps, which use non-Mexican ingredients like ranch dressing and honey mustard, as examples of products that are giving consumers new ideas. “I think the major challenge that we have is to really help the general market or the non-Hispanic consumer start using tortillas, whether they are corn or flour, more often and in varied ways,” Garrett says. More restaurants are including tortilla-based wraps on their menus, he adds, which is helping drive consumer demand. “When you look at the usage of wraps, it’s incredibly varied,” he says. “A lot of people don’t think of wraps as a type of tortilla. Wraps have really revolutionized the category.” One thing working in Mission’s favor is how easily tortillas can be used. Garrett says the fast pace of many Americans’ lives make the tortilla an integral part of their meals. “What we’ve seen in the American diet for some time now is that people who are preparing meals are time-starved,” Garrett says. “We see people just being more and more pressured to prepare meals with a minimum of time and effort.” Mission is doing its part to help out with its Web site, Missionmenus.com, containing recipes, nutrition information, and tips and tricks for using tortillas in meal planning. Standing Out Mission seeks to differentiate itself in the marketplace by paying attention to the latest dietary trends. Garrett says the company is “always leading the market with new ideas.” Innovation is the best way to stay above the fray in a market like tortillas, where regional manufacturers flood the shelves. “I was in Houston last week, and you walk into a store, and you’ll have anywhere from seven to 10 brands in the category,” Garrett says. “If you’re not careful, it can become a price game.” Mission avoids this by giving consumers something different from the rest of the pack. “For example, a few years ago when the low-carb diet craze was in full swing, we launched a lot of low-carb products,” Garrett says. Even though the Atkins diet has dropped off in popularity, the company still produces low-carb tortillas that remain popular with consumers. In addition, Mission also makes multigrain products as well as non- or low-fat varieties of its products. Garrett says that although the demand for healthier options hasn’t changed, the methods by which products are made healthier have. “Ten years ago, it was about taking bad things out of food,” he says. “Now, it’s more about putting good things into foods.” Products like multigrain tortillas fit the bill for this trend, but Mission is also looking at other areas. “One of the areas that’s of very high interest to us is Omega-3 [fatty acids],” Garrett says. No matter how Mission enhances its products, however, Garrett says the integrity of the products will always be the top concern. “It’s not just about dropping a bunch of vitamins and minerals into a batch,” he says. Mission uses 100 percent American corn, according to Vice President of Procurement Juan Castro. However, rising interest in ethanol has made things more difficult for the company. “Corn prices have doubled in less than two years, and they continue to be strong into the future,” Castro says. “What we try to do is we try to protect ourselves going forward.” The company purchases corn futures, and has a risk management program in place to help avoid higher prices in the future, Castro adds. Growing Markets Mission Foods also has a product line geared to Hispanic consumers called Guerrero, which focuses on larger-count packages and corn-based tortillas. Garrett says both the Hispanic and general markets show great potential for the future. “We have two wonderful consumer groups that we’re going to grow with,” he says. In particular, he says, the potential for further growth in the general market looks virtually limitless. “We feel like we’re just scratching the surface with that market,” Garrett says. |
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