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Hollister’s El Nopal Bakery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Perhaps more importantly to families in need, it is also celebrating the fifth anniversary of its relationship with the Community FoodBank of San Benito County.
Twice a month, the bakery delivers 600 packages of freshly made tortillas at a deep discount to the FoodBank in a successful partnership that began during the pandemic. But today, that relationship is jeopardized by budget cuts in a tightening economy.
“During the pandemic,” said El Nopal owner Frankie Berlanga, “tortilla sales slowed down because restaurants slowed down. Most of my employees had been with me for 10-plus years, and I would have needed to lay some off or cut hours across the board.”
Having worked with Second Harvest in Watsonville in the past, Berlanga was inspired to contact the FoodBank to see if they would be interested in buying some tortillas, working out a deal to sell them at a 40% discount.
“All it really does is pay for labor,” Berlanga said. “We have 27 employees and it allows us to keep going.”
FoodBank Executive Director Guillermo Rodriguez said the collaboration was made possible through the State of California’s CalFoods program funding, which helps organizations like the FoodBank purchase food from local partners.
“For the Hispanic community,” Rodriquez said, “tortillas are a staple with cultural relevance. Customers come in and are surprised because tortillas can be expensive or hard to get for them. So this is a great collaboration.”
According to Rodriquez, successful as it is, the collaboration may be in danger. CalMatters reports that the CalFresh program, currently budgeted at $60 million, will face a $54 million drop in annual funding at the end of June 2025.
“We always have to fight, fight, fight,” he said. “We have to say, ‘Please keep us funded.’ It’s in our hearts to continue with that mission. But our hearts can only do so much. We need the money to make it happen.”
Rodruquez said the best scenario is that the FoodBank’s funding will be reduced, not halted.
“We will have to find other avenues, he said, “or maybe a reduction in the number of tortillas we can get. But I know the community will come strong. San Benito is strong. We will make it work for our community and keep the cultural relevance here for everybody.”
Berlanga said that people may not understand that the FoodBank not only depends on donations of outdated or excess products and produce but also actively buys food from local businesses.
“It allows me to keep employees employed,” he said. “It allows people to have that staple in their house.”
FoodBank operations manager Lisa De La Cruz said the proposed funding cuts threaten other purchases, like hams distributed for Easter and Christmas turkeys.
“It will cut into a lot of what our customers need,” she said, “to help them have food on the table. We’re in limbo about what will happen next. And right now, we have double the customers we saw during the pandemic. And it’s pretty clear that the situation is getting a lot more dire.”
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