Tortillas for troops made in Overland Park
Sun Newspapers
BY: Chris Rodgers, Staff WriterFriday, September 21, 2007
La Superior Food Products, 4307 Merriam Drive, Overland Park, has added a Saturday shift to make flour tortillas that end up in the hands of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mann’s Taste Traditions in Omaha awarded the tortilla contract to La Superior about two months ago. La Superior ships about 3,000 cases of tortillas a month to Mann’s, which uses them to make beef and chicken burritos for soldiers in the Middle East.
“We would normally work two 10-hour shifts per day Monday through Friday. We put on another shift on Saturday just because of the additional business,” La Superior CEO George Young said.
Young, Leawood, told a story he called “a funny twist” to the arrangement. “This is what kind of tickled me about this whole thing,” Young said.
“My son in college had a roommate that was a Marine ROTC and he is over in Afghanistan now. (The Marine) made the comment to my son that there is really not much to do … but he said at least the food is good, they get some of the best food around.
He says, 'As a matter of fact we’ve got these really great burritos.’ “My son told me this story. So I call up Mann’s and I said, 'How many people are doing burritos and Mexican food?’ and he says, 'We’re the only one that does it.’
So I told my son, call (your friend) back and tell him to keep eating those burritos because I’m making them here.”
Young and business partner Larry O’Brien, Leawood, bought La Superior in 2003, and the company has grown. “We have more than doubled our sales in the four-plus years,” Young said. “We ship to seven or eight states now.”
La Superior produces flour and corn tortillas and chips for grocery stores, restaurants and school districts. “All the sudden it seems that everybody is eating tortillas. It seems like we’re running every day now,” Young said.
Young said he, O’Brien and the company’s 32 employees feel proud to feed the troops.
“We consider it a great honor to be supplying our soldiers with our products, and it is a responsibility we take very seriously,” Young said. Young said he did not know how long the arrangement would last.
“It depends on the war,” he said. “Those contracts are really difficult to get. When you get them they are pretty good so I am pretty happy with it.”
“We were looking for a company that could supply us with quality items, and one with a reputation (for) on-time delivery,” Mann’s President and CEO Jeff Souba said in a press release. “La Superior is doing a superb job on all counts.”
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