The family behind Anita’s, a California SBA Business of the Year Award recipient, founded its sister company La Reina in 1958, later acquiring Anita’s to produce snack foods. Recently, they expanded their 140,000 square foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility by adding an additional 220,000 square feet to meet growing distribution demands.

Delivering on their philosophy of “healthy, good for you snacks,” Anita’s possesses multiple lines to produce tortilla chips, pellet snacks and taco shells. With the capacity to customize products and cook chips into custom shapes, using cooked corn and/or corn flour, they can grind, blend, and apply natural, topical seasoning to exceed a wide number of customer expectations.

Their snack foods are currently under co-pack and private label partnerships, but Anita’s leadership realized the need to provide their own co-packing and private label manufacturing in the South East. “This new facility will expand our capacity, capabilities and also provide expanded distribution and services to our current and new customers in the eastern half of the country,” explained president Ricardo Alvarez.

The new acquisition is an outgrowth of Anita’s extensive review of established and recognized co-packing and private label manufacturers in the southeast. The new facility will not only meet Anita’s high food safety standards, it will also provide ample space to expand their footprint and range of product offerings, including organic, gluten-free, non-GMO and Kosher snacks.

Following in the footsteps of founder and humanitarian Mauro Robles, Anita’s continues to focus on community involvement and philanthropy. The company values its employees as family members, some of which have been with the organization for decades. Alvarez sees the new acquisition as an opportunity to further expand its team. “We look forward to growing the employment of the facility,” he said.

Though Robles did not disclose the details of the Kingsport transaction, the acquisition exemplifies the company’s profound growth in recent years. “This expansion not only allows us to immediately generate incremental sales, it also allows us the opportunity to service existing and new customers,” said VP of sales Mauro Gomez. “The location itself plays a crucial part in our larger strategic plan for growth.”

According to Alvarez, Anita’s is executing its larger strategic plan through this acquisition, placing the award-winning business on the national stage, allowing them to produce and distribute healthy snack foods throughout the country.