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.

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.

Tortillas Blanco's early beginnings in Southeast Texas in the 1940's??

The story of Tortillas Blanco actually began in the early 1940’s at a cotton gin in southeast Texas. My grandfather Lynn Headrick, his father, and brothers operated a gin in Corpus Christi, Texas. During cotton picking season migrant Mexican workers would come to work. It was during that time my grandfather learned the Spanish language. Later on, my grandfather began preaching and continued to have an interest in Spanish mission work. He built strong relationships with the Hispanic people.
Moving forward to the 1980’s…My grandparents raised me and allowed me opportunities that I otherwise would not have experienced. My grandfather would take me on some of his mission trips. It was then I realized my love of good Mexican foods especially the fresh, hot, tortillas!!
In 1998 my grandfather passed away I was 18 years old. As an 18 year old I really didn’t know what I was going to do with the rest of my life. So, the search began. Several years went by, 7 years to be exact, of not finding what I was interested in doing. Until one day, while driving down Florence Blvd in Florence, AL, it hit me! Not a car, but an idea, an idea to make that wonderful bread I remembered as a young boy, tortillas!!
The work began of developing the concept. Little did I know how much work would take place, but I did it. Today, Tortillas Blanco is a restaurant and a chip manufacturing company with 6 stores currently on our route. Things are happening and growing. I cannot help but think about that young man working in the cotton gin, learning Spanish, and making another young boy a part of his life and leading me to where I am today.

The Month of April

As we are nearing the end of April it is time to take a deep breath. We have had many great opportunities in this month and a great many challenges. April and I both lost uncles in this month, my uncle Rob Headrick in Lancaster, TX and her uncle Eugene Murray from Russellville, AL. We did get a short vacation for April's birthday we went to Charleston, SC (for the first time Tortillas Blanco operated without April or myself, that is a big step.) Charleston was beautiful we went on the private garden tours and enjoyed some great food with others serving us for a change :) We started the commercials with 48, we were in Southern Living, we partnered with Alaga Yellow Label Syrup for the new "sweet home Alabama" dessert. Our chips traveled to Chicago, Florida, Mobile, Montgomery, and Birmingham this month. I was selected as the Buisness Person of the year by the Limestone County Chamber of Commerce. The Athens News Courier put out a magazine with Tortillas Blanco on the cover. I was asked to play golf with Coach Nick Saban and Gene Stallings (problem was I have never played golf, so it didn't happen.)

Many Things Happening Lately.

I am excited to tell you that we are in the May edition of Southern Living Magazine! We have been covered up with customers upon the issues release. Some ask, "are you new", "did you just open". So, I guess three years later we just had our "grand opening" :) It is great to be recognized for the hard work that April and I have put into Tortillas Blanco. We were on WAFF 48 yesterday and have we been busy. I included our new commercial, hope you enjoy.

In The News

Tortillas Blanco On FOX 6 News in Birmingham

In August our restaurant and factory were highlighted on FOX 6 News in Birmingham. It was fun for us and the customers that day.

California Dreamin'

It is always nice to have customers from the west come into our little restaurant. At the onset they describe themselves as great judges of good mexican food. Of course, we do our best to provide great products at Tortillas Blanco so I am pretty confident that we'll get their approval. Then the food comes out and the comments begin, "this is great", "I have had some good mexican food in my day but, this...this is good". We had that opportunity yesterday with a couple from California. It is so much fun and rewarding to offer a product like ours in Athens, AL where generally expectations are low for good mexican food. We are proving one customer at a time, "Fresher is Better".