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This is about to get fun!!

Well tonight is a great night for watching WAFF 48! Kim Essex was kind enough to come and want to do a story on our little enterprise. We have consistently been rated 98 at our factory since 2005 and 99 at the restaurant since 2006. Looking forward to learning more about this technology joining facebook with the blog and the website www.itsthechips.com. Thanks to all those who support us we cannot and will not succeed without you.

Commendation from Governor Riley

Governor Riley invited April and I to the state capitol to recieve a commendation for our buisness. We had several friends and family join us. It was a great time! My nephew Nicholas was given a lapel pin by Governor Riley and that was the topic of discussion the rest of the day. In the pic from left to right in back; , Lauren Cole- Department of Agriculture, Kay Smallwood-Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association, Hugh Ball- Limestone Chamber of Commerce. On front left to right April White, Gov. Riley, Mark White. Any honor or recognition I give credit to many people, including customers and employees. Thank you!

Hello..Well, it's been a while...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. There have been many things happening that have not allowed me much time for posting. We have added many new locations in the last couple of weeks where you can purchase our Blanco's Chips. Please go by one of these locations and get a bag, it will help us a lot to get the interest sparked. Here are the locations where the chips are available...

1. AlabamaGoods.com Bessemer, AL (256) 566-8720
2. Clements Mini Mart Hwy 72 Athens, AL (256) 729-8663
3. Dependable True Value (April's Dad) 15220 Hwy 43 Russellville, AL (256)
4. Downtown Chevron 109 Madison St. NE Russellville, AL (256) 331-9560
5. Foodland L&S Jefferson St. Athens, AL (256) 232-5530
6. Foodland Hwy 72 Rogersville, AL (256) 247-1805
7. Foodland Hwy 101 Elgin, AL (256) 247-1958
8. Foodland Hwy 72 Killen, AL (256) 757-2002
9. Foodland Darby Drive Florence, AL (256) 767-2227
10.Foodland Huntsville Rd. 404 Huntsville Rd. Florence, AL (256) 766-3067
11.Foodland Muscle Shoals 3001 Woodward Ave. Muscle Shoals, AL (256) 381-7277
12.Foodland Tuscumbia 6425 Woodmont Dr. Tuscumbia, AL (256) 383-9425
13.Foodland Sheffield 502 North Montgomery Ave. Sheffield, AL (256) 383-6940
14.Foodland Ford City 14505 County Line Rd. Muscle Shoals, AL (256) 446-5842
15.Star Market Madison 7950 Hwy 72 West Madison, AL (256) 721-1322
16.Star Market 5 Points 702 Pratt Ave. Huntsville, AL (256) 534-4509
17.Star Market Meridianville 12078 Hwy 231/431 North Meridianville, AL (256) 828-6162
18.Up, Up, & Away 167 South Main St. Arab, AL (256) 931-8787
19.Warren's BP Hwy 72 Rogersville, AL (256) 247-3842
20.West End Outdoors Hwy 72 Athens, AL (256) 233-1633

As always thanks for your support of our "small business"

Mark

The Coach

Move over Golden Flake it looks like the ol' football coach has a new kind of crunch!
Former Alabama Crimson Tide National Championship Coach Gene Stallings has a taste for Blanco's Chips and I am sure excited. Anybody that knows me knows that I was a walk-on kicker with the Tide and one of my greatest disappointments was not being able to play for Coach Stallings. Now that I think about it he probably enjoys my chips a lot more than he would've enjoyed my kicking.

September 27th Event!!

Since we are now open later on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we thought we would take the opportunity to provide some entertainment. This Saturday ,September 27, from 6pm to 7:30pm performing live will be "Linda Speed and the Spanish Guitar" come out for true family friendly entertainment. You can come out and enjoy our outside seating with good food and music. We hope to see you here!

Busiest Day Ever!!

For those of you who came to Tortillas Blanco on Saturday, Thanks! Thanks for your patience, thanks for your smiling faces, thanks for understanding. We had a very challenging situation with the Art on the Square event taking place that day. It was definitely a record for us at the restaurant, all the tables were full and we had about 15-20 people waiting outside without a seat. We appreciate the patience that was required to be a customer on Saturday. The problem was we kept running out of food! There was really no way of knowing what we were facing that day the last couple of years that particular event has not been that big...I guess things change!! The girls did great working in the back to get the food out they really earned their money. For those of you who didn't get to try us out because of the line I apologize and hope that you will come back real soon and give us a try. Remember the new hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday until 8pm.

8pm

This is the 2nd night we have worked extended hours, so far so good! I felt like we were sort of teasing the people that were some distance from Athens by closing at 6pm. Of course, we have been really trying to increase production at the factory. We have added 2 additional employees to our staff and I look forward to what we are going to accomplish. Tomorrow is the annual Art on The Square event the streets have been blocked off in front of our restaurant. You can still park in the parking lot beside our building please don't hesitate to come by. We will be open tomorrow night until 8pm if you want to come for supper.

Gustav Comes Ashore

As Gustav comes ashore it looks as though most people have gone ahead and taken proper precautions by leaving the Gulf area. I believe the government has done their part to be ready. As the hurricane hits the shore I hope that the damage is minimal to the area. There are people who have stayed (8%-9%) and I scratch my head at the thought. I did hear that 3 people that were under hospital care died during their transport, so there are some situations that pose unique challenges for some people to leave. For the others, I just don't know. There was even a family that were staying in their boat to "tough it out". The guy on the Weather Channel said he spoke to the family and they were staying because the "kids" wanted to!! Sometimes there are people that just can't be helped. Good Luck! The storm has just been downgraded to a Category 2 and the primary concern is the flooding and the test it will present to the levees.

Do you remember your 1st grade teacher?

I have very vivid memories of my first grade teacher Mrs. Thornton. I actually gave her a difficult time, but I did like her. She reminded of the time I tied my shoe laces to the desk legs and knotted them up so bad I couldn't get them loose to go to lunch...I had stay in the room while everyone else was at lunch! I was a challenge to say the least. In truth I haven't changed much internally, I have just found I don't always have to act out externally.
The day Mrs. Thornton came was also my nephew Nicholas's first day in the second grade! I hope in the future he appreciates Mrs. James as much as I do Mrs. Thornton.

An Exciting Announcement!!

Our good friends Justin and Courtney have a new addition to their family, her name is Libby Brooke. We are very excited for them and wish them well in raising their two little girls. Congratulations!

Blanco's @ The Vipers

All of our employees recently had a "field trip" to watch the Tennessee Valley Vipers Arena football game. We were sponsors for the night feeding the media, coaches, etc. Cara, Anna, Tyler and Josefita all got to come and seemed to enjoy the game. Our friends Justin, Courtney, Jeremiah, and Ashley also got to come. We had a great time and the Vipers won!!

Terranova's in Madison!

Now, this may seem a little unusual to be plugging another restaurant but, I want to recommend Terranova's in Madison if you feel like some affordable, good Italian food. April, Nicholas, and I went there for supper tonight after we closed the restaurant. I had the Terranova Trio, it was terrific! Our waitress Allie did a good job of serving. She said last night she spilled a lot of drink glasses, she would not reenact the same performance for us though. Good job Allie, entertaining the customers) :) There were also several of our customers from Tortillas Blanco at Terranova's tonight, I guess great minds do think alike.

Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association

At the Alabama Veterans Museum in Athens we had our quarterly ALM business meeting on Tuesday. Tourism is so vital to the economy and they are a hard working group of people that help to keep tourism strong in the north Alabama area. I want to thank them for "spotlighting" my Blanco's Original and Cinnamon Sugar Chips at the meeting. The chips went over well and it was a great feeling to have the presentation of the new bag with such great chips!! There are some terrific events happening across north Alabama be sure to click the link to Alabama Mountain Lakes and check out what is going on!

Summer Time!

We have had a great summer! With the increased demand for our product our good help is really coming through for us. We are up to 8 stores now and growing. We shot our new commercial today. Our friends Jeremiah, Ashley, and their little girl Elizabeth came to help out. Thanks! We are catering at the Tennessee Valley Vipers Football Game tomorrow night it is Military Appreciation Night. We are very excited!

Jason and Amberly

Two of my favorite people came by the restaurant a couple of weeks ago. Amberly had seen the May issue of Southern Living and had to come and see. Of course, I wasn't doing much when they knew me. I can understand a little verification of the facts :) We were able to catch up around their active children. Time certainly has flown. It really did not seem like very long since I had seen them last, but I guess about 9 years had passed. Anyway, Amberly has a blog and this picture was on it so I thought I would put it on mine too! If your reading this Amberly, thanks for coming by. I look forward to seeing you guys again soon.

Flag Day.

Tomorrow is flag day. A day we recognize our flag and what it means to us as Americans. The first thing that comes to mind are the people who have fought and died for the flag, not for the piece of cloth, but for what that piece of cloth symbolizes, a free people, in a great land. I am grateful to those who have thought the flag meant enough to die for it. We are Americans, and should be proud to say so, and proud to live under that flag that means so much in so many ways.