Omaha Exploration

The story of Mi Mama’s Tortillas starts with Josephine Martinez. Born in Mexico in 1919, she first moved to Western Nebraska with her parents Julien and Helena in 1921. The family worked in the sugar beet fields before making their way to South Omaha. Josephine and her husband Michael Ramirez found work in the meatpacking plants where they earned enough money to buy a house and raise a family of their own.

The matriarch of the family of six, Josephine sold food to help build Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. Despite barely earning enough for themselves, the Ramirez family and Josephine in particular always looked for ways to help the less fortunate. That included carrying bags full of tacos, enchiladas and other food to give away at the packinghouse where she worked.

Daughter Marcella and her husband Bob Hedlund used her mother’s recipe to create one of Omaha’s favorite tortillas in 1983. Originally located at 24th and F Streets, the company started by producing less than 200 tortillas per day. They began selling the tortillas to friends and family members in the restaurant and grocery businesses. As the company expanded, they moved to larger building at 23rd and N Streets.

By the time they moved, the family opened a grocery store that became Nena’s Mexican Products & Groceries. From that store, Josephine setup a hot plate in the back and handed out free food to the hungry. That store later was renamed as Nena’s Zamora Market and moved to 4901 S 24th Street. Nena would also become a partner in the business before leaving to run the grocery store. The generosity of their mother inspired both of her daughters, Marcella and Mary, to follow her lead by donating not only food but time, money and leads to new immigrants looking for jobs.

Omaha’s participation in the Community Development Block Grant program allowed the company to expand even further after receiving $250,000 in federal funds. Mi Mama’s used the money to relocate to its current home at 828 S 17th Street which had been Central Transfer and Distributing Company. As a part of the move, they renovated the former truck terminal and turned it into a tortilla factory that was also used for shipping, receiving and storage.

The grant money was also allowed Mi Mama’s to triple its workforce and allowed it to sell both its hard and soft tortillas to other states such as Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Missouri and Texas. They also produced tortillas for ConAgra Foods which later started its own tortilla business in 1992.

Despite the increased competition from ConAgra and others, Mi Mama’s said it was confident that it produced some of the best tortillas in the country and would continue to focus on quality even though larger companies created tortillas more quickly and spent more on advertising.

In 1992 the company’s founders, Marcella and Bob Hedlund, were recognized as the Small Business Administration’s minority small business of the year as well as being featured on Good Morning America. In 1993 when the family sold the business for $4.6M it was producing more than 12,000 tortillas per day. 

Josephine, the woman whose recipe became profitable beyond her wildest dreams passed away in 2001. Prior to a stroke in 1990, she could be found helping at the Mi Mama’s factory as well as at the grocery store. The company’s founders, Marcella passed away one year later in 2002 followed by her husband Bob in 2014.

Dan Gardner and his daughter Leslie Bebee of Wakefield, NE bought the company while son Richard Ramirez continued to work for Mi Mama’s. The company continued to expand in 1995 when its new owners purchased a competing company in Texas that was also named Mi Mama’s. By 1998 it was producing 350,000 tortillas per day. In 2002 it was purchased by Arthur and Joan Velasquez of Azteca Foods. The Chicago based company also owns La Fronteriza and Mariachi brands. In 2010 Azteca invested $4.5M to expand its plant in Omaha. 

More than 40 years after it started as a small business in South Omaha that produced less than 200 tortillas per day, it produced as many as 900,000 per day in 2010. It has withstood the competition from ConAgra and others and continues to distribute to 10 states nationwide. Not only that but it has been recognized as one of Omaha’s favorite brands multiple times and Omaha Public Schools even began using its tortillas in 2024.

Have you tried Mi Mama’s? If so, what are your thoughts on the brand or is there something else you like better? I’d like to hear what you have to say so please feel free to comment. Until next time, keep exploring!

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