Casa Sanchez Foods is an American Mexican-style food snack company, based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, best known for producing authentic

salsas Salsas is a civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined f ...

and

tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...

s. Beginning in the 1920s as a

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Me ...

manufacturer in San Francisco, the company soon evolved to producing salsas,

guacamole Guacamole (; (informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisi ...

tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamale ...

pupusa A pupusa is a thick griddle cake or flatbread from El Salvador and Honduras, made with cornmeal or rice flour, similar to the Colombian and Venezuelan arepa. In El Salvador, it has been declared the national dish and has a specific day to cel ...

s, and

coffee beans A coffee bean is a seed of the ''Coffea'' plant and the source for coffee. It is the pip inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a coffee cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit. Even thou ...

. The Casa Sanchez Building at 2778 24th Street in the Mission District has been listed as a

San Francisco Designated Landmark This is a list of San Francisco Designated Landmarks. In 1967, the city of San Francisco, California adopted Article 10 of the Planning Code, providing the city with the authority to designate and protect landmarks from inappropriate alterations. ...

(no. 296) by the city since February 11, 2022.

Corporate history

R. Sanchez & Co.

Roberto and Isabel Sanchez immigrated from

Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

, Mexico to San Francisco, California, in 1923 and established R. Sanchez & Co., a tortilla factory in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

. Tortillas were traditionally sold by the pound and wrapped in paper and string just like in Mexico. After Roberto's death, his widow and three young children took over the family business. R. Sanchez & Co. began in the Fillmore district of San Francisco, a predominantly Hispanic area at the time. In 1968, the company moved to the Mission district as the Mission was experiencing an influx of Latino residents. Soon after, Robert Jr. and Martha Sanchez decided to manufacture fresh-packaged salsas to differentiate themselves from the many competing tortilla factories.

Jimmy the Cornman

Casa Sanchez is one of the highest-selling salsas in California based on Neilson reports and is widely known as a San Francisco staple. The company's logo, "Jimmy the Cornman", a cartoon depiction of a boy wearing a

sombrero A sombrero (Spanish , ) is a type of wide-brimmed Mexican men's hat used to shield the face and eyes from the sun. It usually has a high pointed crown, an extra-wide brim (broad enough to cast a shadow over the head, neck and shoulders of the we ...

while riding an ear of corn like a rocket, was inspired by Jimmy Sanchez, the youngest of the third generation, and the landing of the first man on the moon, hence the company's slogan: "flavor out of this world".

Casa Sanchez

As of today, the company continues to be family operated into the fourth generation—contributing to the further development of the brand's legacy. Casa Sanchez has continued to develop an extensive line of over a dozen Mexican food products and have expanded to the entire west coast as a leader in co-marketing fresh salsas and tortilla chips. Aside from being heavily involved in the community by regularly sponsoring Latino events throughout the Bay Area, Casa Sanchez has also contributed over $100,000 to charity. In 1999 Casa Sanchez attracted national attention, including that of ''

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'' magazine, when it unveiled its new marketing campaign: get a tattoo of "Jimmy the Cornman" and get free lunch at the Casa Sanchez restaurant for life. The promotion returned in March 2010 to much praise. The restaurant closed in 2012.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.casasanchezfoods.com/ Food and drink companies of the United States Food product brands Brand name snack foods Snack food manufacturers of the United States Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area Food and drink companies based in California