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SANTA FE RESTAURANT FOODS, INC.
In 1974 the first Santa Fe Restaurant opened for business at the corner of Fourth and Avenue Q in Lubbock Texas. From the very first day, people came from miles around just to experience the savory tastes of southwestern style Mexican foods and to enjoy the tantalizing tastes of the tortilla chips and salsa served with their meals. In 1987 the original restaurant was purchased by Ken McNabb, and the legend of serving some of the finest Mexican food in the region continued. As the years passed Ken was intrigued by the never-ending requests by his customers for bags of chips and cups of salsa to take home with them to share with their friends and families.
Being the adventurous type, Ken decided to form Santa Fe Restaurant Foods. The purpose of the company was to create, design, produce and market a retail line of high quality, specialty Mexican Food products much like those that he served in the restaurants for years. Initially Kens’ primary responsibilities were in the development of products, the selection of manufacturers for the products and the supervision of production, making sure that quality was the number one focus of the company.
As market acceptance grew and markets expanded Ken chose to sell his restaurants in early 2004 allowing him to direct all his energy toward the growth of the company and development of new products to meet consumer demand.
Today, Santa Fe Restaurant Foods, is one of the southwest’s premier producers of High quality Mexican Food products and is operated with the values that make business work. Consistent quality and service, customer responsiveness, and ethical business conduct. Innovation and hard work are the values that the company was founded on and still remain central to the company’s operating philosophy today.
THE PRODUCTS
Santa Fe Restaurant Foods has a line of sixteen products, which are currently being marketed to various retail customers. Santa Fe produces and markets the following items.
- Santa Fe Restaurant Salsa is all-natural, contain no preservatives, is fat free and made from a special recipe, blending the finest fresh tomatoes, premium fresh jalapenos, chiles, and spices resulting in a true premium restaurant style salsa. Santa Fe currently has 10 salsas in their original line.
- Santa Fe restaurant chips are made from a blend of the highest quality white and yellow corn to create a light and crispy restaurant style chip. The chips are available in two flavors, original, and lightly seasoned.
- Santa Fe Bean Dip is made from fresh pinto beans, spicy jalapenos, and a unique smokey bacon flavoring that goes great with the Santa Fe chips.
- Santa Fe Restaurant Salsa Con Queso (cheddar cheese) and Queso Blanco (Monterey jack cheese), are spicy cheese dips made from real cheeses, salsa and peppers.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Ken McNabb President, and CEO of Santa Fe Restaurant Foods, Ken is responsible for the development of new products as well as developing and implementing corporate strategies for continued growth, including Sales, Marketing, Advertising, and fiscal reporting. Prior to founding Santa Fe Restaurant Foods, he owned and operated restaurants for over 20 years. The knowledge gained while operating restaurants is used in the development of new products. Prior to Santa Fe Restaurants Ken was President of Paramount Companies Inc., a Real Estate development and oil and gas company responsible for the development of over 60 million dollars of commercial properties and operator of oil and gas properties in the Texas Panhandle. Prior to founding paramount companies, Ken worked with Coldwell Banker Real Estate and Amarillo Investments Inc. in Amarillo Texas as a licensed Real Estate Broker and Licensed Security sales representative. Where he marketed Real Estate Investment property as well as stock and securities. Mr. McNabb is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a BBA in Management.
Harry L. Bennett is a Director and Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He has over 45 years experience in the grocery industry. His career in the grocery business began while attending Texas Tech University and working in management for a major grocery chain, Furr’s Supermarkets, Lubbock, Texas. He learned all aspects of the retail grocery industry from shipping products from the warehouse to merchandising products on the store shelves, and building displays for maximum sales to the consumer.
Using the knowledge and skills he obtained from the retail grocery business, Mr. Bennett built a very successful food brokerage company, The Oliver-Taylor Co.-West, representing various food manufacturers selling to wholesalers and retail grocery chains. Until 1996, he owned and managed the sales company of 50 people with annual sales of $65-70 million, generating commissions up to $2 million. Many of the food companies he represented were leaders in the industry and market leaders in the areas under the responsibility of his company, i.e., Pace Foods (Pace Picante Sauce), Star-Kist Foods (Tuna Fish), Delmonte USA, (Canned Peas, Beans, & Corn), and Tyson Foods (Fresh and prepackaged Chicken).
After selling his food brokerage firm in 1996, Mr. Bennett joined Santa Fe Restaurant Foods, to help introduce the company’s new Salsa and Tortilla Chip brands to the retail grocery trade. Mr. Bennett’s experience as the Pace Foods broker has been very instrumental in appointing a broker sales force and a distributing network to open new markets and increase the sales of Santa Fe Restaurant Foods. His vast knowledge and attention to detail in developing grocery products, marketing, brand share, and ultimately achieving consumer awareness and acceptance has proven to be invaluable to the success of Santa Fe Restaurant Foods.