______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Easy Foods

Having started its manufacturing journey in a 26,000-square-foot plant with a single flour line and a separate corn line, the company now operates state-of-the-art facilities, equipped with some of the industry’ s most advanced machinery and automation, as well as featuring an in-house lab and a test kitchen. However, having experienced exponential growth in recent years, Easy Foods is now establishing more facilities, so we sit down with Juan Viejo, Vice President and COO, to learn more.

“ Easy Foods started via another brand that we acquired, which had been successfully operating for around 25 years,” Juan begins.“ Although the brand already had a footing in the industry, its reputation had declined, and when we took over, we decided to launch new branding, build a new facility, and double down on customer service to reinvigorate operations. The business gradually grew, and it was soon apparent that we’ d need more space than the facilities we were renting from our neighbors.

“ We experienced double digit growth year-on-year and recognizing that our manufacturing processes weren’ t running as efficiently as they could, we decided to move to a new plant in 2016. One of our key strategies was to become more competitive in terms of inbound freight, so after nearly a year of searching for appropriate locations, we settled on a plant in Kissimmee, Florida, which is where we are based today. Having purchased 11 acres of land, we designed and built our current plant from the ground up, which is 100,000 square feet.

“ However, around two years ago we experienced tremendous growth of around 40 percent following the Covid-19 pandemic, and to cope with demand, we had to rent another 50,00-square-foot site to store raw materials,” he reflects.“ As a result, we came out of the pandemic even stronger, and we’ re now in the process of building two new facilities.”

Expanding operations

Elaborating on these new investments, Juan continues:“ We’ re constructing a 250,000-square-foot site in Texas, which is set to be one of the most advanced tortilla manufacturing plants in the world and has potential for expansion to 450,000 square feet. We’ re passionate about automation, and once operational, the new facility is set to drive exponential growth by dramatically increasing production capabilities. With new technologies installed inside, I was also keen to have an equally impressive exterior. Designed to look like a spaceship, the site is futuristic and will certainly stand out as a plant of the future.

“ We’ ve been growing on the East Coast for some time now, but we’ ve had conversations with national accounts, and given the reputation and relationship we’ ve built, these accounts are keen for us to grow with them. The new facility in Texas will make us more competitive in several geographies, allowing us to work closer to the West Coast and target states like California as we aim for national coverage. There are three main players in the US, and although we’ re not yet one of them, they’ re becoming aware of our dramatic growth in the market.”

Texas is not the only place where Easy Foods is active though, as Juan explains:“ Our other new site is very close to our current place in Kissimmee, and we plan to operate the new factory as a cracker manufacturing operation. Similarly to

foodchainmagazine. com 219