La Canasta was founded by Richard and Carmen Abril in 1962.  The business started in Phoenix, Arizona by supplying the Hispanic community with Fresh Hand Made Flour and Corn Tortillas.  Word of mouth spread the news about La Canasta having the Best Tasting Homemade tortillas in town!  Eventually Mexican Food restaurant owners began coming to pick up tortillas for their businesses.  The demand grew so much that we decided to add a delivery service to the restaurant establishments.  As the Food service industry grew in Arizona, so did La Canasta tortilla production.  Today, La Canasta is Certified / Minority & Woman owned by the second generation family members.  We have over 160 employees operating our production facility around the clock producing over 1 million tortillas daily for local and national accounts.  Our production facility is located in Phoenix, Arizona and is one of the most modern in the tortilla industry. In July of 1999, La Canasta was honored with a visit from President Clinton in his efforts to recognize Small Business contributions to our national economy.

While La Canasta had always produced tortillas for chips for Mexican Food Restaurants, we felt that there was a market for an Authentic Tortilla Chip that consumers could only enjoy when dining at their favorite Mexican Restaurants.   In 1999, My Nana’s BEST TASTING Tortilla chips became a reality to us and our consumers.  The idea was to allow consumers to have the same Authentic Restaurant Quality Tortilla chips at home.  All they had to do  “ Heat and Serve ” them as they are served in many Mexican Food Restaurants. La Canasta started frying and marketing “My Nana” Tortilla Chips in the bakery/deli departments of retail grocery stores.   Since 2002 My Nana’s Tortilla  Chips  have rated in the Top 5 with IRI Scan data,  measuring all Arizona snack food sales categories.  In 2006 we launched My Nana’s Tortilla Strips.  Our tortilla strips are a proven foodservice product and will now be made available to retail our consumers. In 2007 will be introducing My Nana’s “Easy to Cook ” Uncooked Flour Tortillas.   This new product is expected to continue on a historical growth trend.  Naturally, La Canasta is extremely proud of these accomplishments and will continue to strive to always be better than expected! La Canasta is still family owned and operated by the second generation of the Abril family.  Josie Ippolito, president, and Linda Rios, Vice President    Both sisters assist in the day to day operation. Each are daughters of the original founders and have spent their lives in the Mexican food industry.

As always, we continue to focus our attention in providing Old Fashion Customer Service and Authentic Product Quality which has made La Canasta who we are today. 
 
We still make our tortillas from the Original recipes since 1962 and will continue to specialize in supplying the foodservice industry with our Authentic “Bakery Fresh” Tortillas and the retail market with My Nana’s BEST TASTING Tortilla Chips and Strips products.  Our company motto is and always will be, Large enough to meet your needs and Small Enough to care