Mi Rancho, a San Leandro, Calif., tortilla producer, says it was a ‘no-brainer’ to go ‘green.’ The company recently replaced overhead lighting in its warehouse and production facility, saving $32,000 annually in energy.

Mexican food is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. food industry. And Mi Rancho, San Leandro, Calif., likes to stay at the forefront. Its proven tortilla-making techniques, formulations and equipment enable its partners to deliver a variety of new products to the market. Mi Rancho has three generations of tortilla-making experience coupled with state-of-the-art automated equipment to produce authentic tortillas in high volumes with consistent quality, texture and taste.

It seems like hundreds of bakeries are taking sustainability measures. But when it comes to sustainability and helping to improve the environment in tortilla facilities, who is “going green?” Plenty of them.

Actually, making environmental improvements to its facility was a "no-brainer" for Joe Santana, vice president of operations at Mi Rancho. The family-owned tortilla producer recently replaced more than 200 overhead lights with energy efficient fixtures in its San Leandro warehouse and production facility.

With rebates from the local utility and the city of San Leandro, the retrofit cost $14,000. But Santana estimates that it will yield an annual energy savings of $32,000. No small change.

Source: tortillanews.com, boss.blogs.nytimes.com