Flavored tortillas make Tumaro's future bright.

BRIAN Jacobs, whose family acquired Tumaro's Tortilla in 1997, is now a vice president at the company. The Jacobses, who previously owned Hain Pure Food Co., have taken Tumaro's healthy frozen Mexican food concept and expanded it, bringing new flavors to new markets. Having joined the business after graduating with a degree in psychology, he said he understands how a healthy lifestyle can affect emotional well-being.

"Tumaro's was established in 1974 by a husband and wife. We acquired the business and now it's family run. At the time we were making vegetarian burritos, tamales and enchiladas. Then, we noticed the tortillas we were buying had a real acidic taste and cracked when they froze.

"One of the products my father developed (at Hain) was sugar-free salad dressing using honey instead of sugar. We borrowed that concept, adding honey to tortilla dough and the honey made them more pliable and made them taste better. Then, it occurred to us to add other flavors so we spent about two years developing a line of organic, flavored tortillas.

"The 20 different flavors range from sundried tomato to honey wheat, and we even make a line of dessert tortillas that includes chocolate, blueberry, pineapple and apple cinnamon.

"We produce all of our tortillas in Los Angeles and our offices are located in Hollywood. We ship all over the country and we have shipped tortillas to Mexico and currently ship to the Middle East and Japan. We have over 25 employees. Our tortillas cost anywhere from $2.60 to $2.79 (for a pack of 10) for the 8 inch and $2.89 to $2.99 for the 10 inch.

"After a couple of years we decided to get out of the frozen food business and go into tortilla business because the tortillas started to take off. Due to our manufacturing process we were able to develop a line of tortillas that did not need refrigeration for 90 days, and this allowed us to go national.

"Most tortillas have anywhere from one week to three weeks before they need refrigeration. We basically went from having zero distribution to roughly 25 percent of all supermarkets in the United States carry our name. In 2004 sales grew 35 percent from the previous year's.

"Where the tortillas are displayed (in stores) changes perceptions of how they're used. If they're displayed in a service deli and compared with deli meats and chicken salad then we find that consumers use the tortillas with those ingredients. When they're stored in ethnic food sections with salsa and other condiments they're used with those ingredients."