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How the Bacas built Bueno Foods into a 75-Year New Mexican institution
What started as a humble family operation is now a local staple with a national reach
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Bueno Foods has been a family affair for as long as Gene Baca, the company鈥檚 CEO and president, can remember.
At 7 years old, Baca helped pack chile pods for the business 鈥� work his father rewarded with a candy bar. For his sister and Bueno鈥檚 senior vice president, Catherine Baca, a typical Sunday afternoon as a 4-year-old entailed accompanying her father to cook corn for the next day鈥檚 production at Bueno鈥檚 Albuquerque facilities.
鈥淚 remember seeing the steam and he would be, with this stainless steel oar, sort of mixing the contents,鈥� Catherine Baca said. 鈥淭hat just really stuck with me all these years later. I can almost feel it and smell the corn.鈥�
At the time, the Bacas never imagined that their small family operation would one day reach 75 years in business 鈥� a milestone the company hits on Monday.
鈥淚t was more like, 鈥極kay, gotta get through the next day,鈥欌�� Gene Baca said with a laugh.
A lot has changed since then. Today, the Albuquerque company is a nationally recognized manufacturer and brand of traditional New Mexican foods, selling chile, tortillas, tamales, posole and other products in thousands of stores and to distributors who sell to restaurants across the country 鈥� including McDonald鈥檚 throughout the Southwest region.
Over more than seven decades, the company has gone from a roughly 1,500-square-foot home the family used as a factory to a massive 130,000-square-foot manufacturing campus that Gene Baca says makes about half a million tortillas and roughly 40,000 pounds of retail chile per day.
Part of that square footage is a 30,000-square-foot subzero freezer that is dedicated solely to storing chiles, which are flame-roasted and grown in Hatch and the Rio Grande Valley.
Fresquez Cos., another longstanding New Mexico business known largely for its role as an operator at the Albuquerque International Sunport, has been using Bueno Foods鈥� products for more than 20 years, according to President LeeAnna Fresquez.
Fresquez uses Bueno鈥檚 chile in all of its Sunport concepts except Sadie鈥檚 of New Mexico. All of the operator鈥檚 burritos are wrapped using Bueno鈥檚 tortillas, and Bueno makes Fresquez鈥檚 proprietary red and green chile sauces. Two of Fresquez鈥檚 Sunport concepts also recently began selling Bueno鈥檚 frozen chile tubs in TSA-approved thermal bags that keep the product frozen for up to 12 hours.
The Fresquez president said Bueno鈥檚 75th anniversary represents 鈥渁n incredible story of multigenerational family business success.鈥�
鈥淏ueno Foods is an organization that has captured the essence of New Mexican food and (has shared that) with the world in an accessible and honoring way,鈥� she added. 鈥淏ueno provides great opportunities to many New Mexican families and celebrates the unique flavors of New Mexican food while keeping tradition alive.鈥�
As impressive as the longstanding operation is, Gene Baca said he is most proud of the fact that the company is still family owned.
鈥淏eing in business is not easy. Being that we鈥檝e been able to do what we do for 75 years and stay family owned is a huge thing for us. We鈥檙e proud of it; I think it鈥檚 pretty remarkable,鈥� Gene Baca said, adding that spouses and a third generation of family members have played a role in the business鈥� growth.
Family fueled pivot
Joe Baca, Gene and Catherine Baca鈥檚 father, launched Bueno Foods in 1951 with his brothers Ray and Augustine Baca. The three served in World War II just a few years before and decided to open a small grocery store when they returned home, aided by some of their 10 siblings.
The store, situated next to the family鈥檚 home off Bridge Boulevard near the Barelas neighborhood, did well at first but proved to be a challenge when larger supermarkets started moving into the area. The increased competition ultimately prompted the family to consider a pivot.
Inspiration for their next venture, what turned out to be Bueno Foods, came in the form of something many New Mexicans know well: their grandmother dropping off homemade food.
鈥淪he鈥檇 bring in enchiladas, rellenos, tamales, beans and chile 鈥� whatever she was making that day,鈥� Gene Baca said. 鈥淐ustomers would come in and they would ask, 鈥楬ow can we buy some of this food?鈥欌��
With more households acquiring freezers and the retail freezer section beginning to take shape at supermarkets, the brothers thought scaling and bringing their family dishes to the masses 鈥� not just during harvest time but year-round 鈥� was the way to go.
Food was also a longtime passion for the family, which has more than 400-year-old roots in New Mexico. A recently discovered diary from Gene Baca鈥檚 grandmother shows that she grew up in Hatch and her family had been growing chile since the 1800s. Later, with 13 kids and a 5-acre farm, Gene Baca鈥檚 grandparents often grew their own food and had developed some serious cooking skills.
The cooking gene passed on to most of the kids 鈥� excluding Joe Baca, his son said with a laugh 鈥� so with a dream, a passion for food and very little money, Bueno Foods was created.
Heating up
The Baca brothers were the first to process green chile on a commercial level. There wasn鈥檛 any equipment for roasting green chile en masse at the time, so the brothers developed and invented the process themselves.
At the start, the venture was mostly family supported, with Gene Baca鈥檚 grandfather serving as the company鈥檚 first sales representative and truck driver. Over time, the venture added employees and outgrew its homey facilities. The family added onto the house factory and, at one point, tore it down and constructed a larger space for the business.
Eventually, with help from Gene Baca鈥檚 other sister and Bueno Foods鈥� former president, Jacqueline Baca, a plan and financing for the company鈥檚 current manufacturing plant near the National Hispanic Cultural Center was put into place.
Around that time, about the early 1980s, Catherine Baca said the company was pressured to build a facility closer to the freeways, but her father 鈥� who died in 1989 鈥� insisted on staying in the Barelas area and providing jobs to the people there.
The plant opened in 1984 and underwent several expansions over the years, with the latest being the giant chile freezer 鈥� reportedly the largest in the U.S. 鈥� in 2022.
Today, Bueno Foods employs roughly 330 people. Joe Baca never pressured his kids to work for the company, which the kids appreciated, but Gene Baca, his four sisters, their spouses and many of their children have gotten involved at one point or another. Gene and Catherine Baca, who have both been with the company for more than 35 years, are now the only ones running the business as of October 2025.
鈥榃e like feeding people鈥�
Looking back at Bueno Foods鈥� 75-year history, Gene Baca said he would consider adapting to and anticipating change to be one of the company鈥檚 greatest challenges 鈥� from technological evolutions to new competitors and personnel changes. But what hasn鈥檛 changed, he said, are the company鈥檚 philosophies of doing right by people, moving fast and learning and growing.
鈥淲e want to keep getting better,鈥� Gene Baca said. 鈥淲e like feeding people, and we like showing the rest of the country great New Mexican food.鈥�
The Bueno Foods president said he believes the company鈥檚 focus on family, affordability and flavor has been key to its success over the decades.
He鈥檚 already looking forward to the company鈥檚 100th year, with momentum from Bueno Foods debuting products at Costco last year, along with a few of his children taking an interest in the business. The company will also release new products later this year, including a packaged chile relleno, a chicken enchilada with a Hatch cream sauce and a shredded pork enchilada.
鈥淲e want to continue growing and making great products,鈥� Gene Baca said. 鈥淲e think we have something unique and being able to represent our culture through our food 鈥� that means a lot to us.鈥�
Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.
