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Community Food Systems Coordinator
Lucy De León poses outside her restaurant Salsas Locas. Photo credit: Emilie Chen
Since 2018, Lucy De León and her team at Salsas Locas have made a variety of Mexican foods for schools and early childhood programs across Oregon and are now one of the most well-known local school food producers in the state. Below, Lucy shares how she started selling to schools and how she maintains consistent sales with meal programs.
This is part of the Farm to School Stories series.
Every year, owner Lucy De León and her team at Salsas Locas make tens of thousands of tamales and enchiladas for school children across the state of Oregon. Salsas Locas, previously named “Tortilleria y Tienda De León’s,” started as a tortilleria in Gresham in 1999 by Lucy’s parents. Her parents worked as migrant farm workers, and Lucy’s mom would often make extra food to sell to other workers in the fields.
When the De León family settled down in Oregon, they decided to start Tortilleria y Tienda De León’s so that they did not have to drive all the way to Woodburn from Portland to have fresh tortillas. Since then and with Lucy’s leadership, the tortilleria has moved to its current Southeast Portland location, undergone a name change and evolved into a thriving restaurant called Salsas Locas, and now, their tamales, enchiladas, and pozole are beloved lunch items in school cafeterias across the state.
The team at Salsas Locas pause their tamale- and burrito-making for a photo. Photo credit: Emilie Chen
“To me, that [culturally relevant foods] is super important because of that connection of having kids to connect with their food, what they’re used to eating at home. It’s just so important for them to have that meal,” said Lucy. “And it’s good for the brain to concentrate and do well.”
Lucy first began selling to schools after she was invited to Ecotrust’s Local Link event, a gathering where local regional producers, farmers, and institutional buyers can build personal connections that lead to lasting purchasing relationships.
At the event, she soon met her first school buyer, the nutrition services director at Portland Public Schools, who was looking for a producer to fill in for a last-minute order of 15,000 tamales. The district’s original vendor’s tamale factory had burned down recently, so they needed a producer who could provide tamales for their lunch menu in two weeks.
After this first farm to school experience, Lucy says large orders from schools don’t faze her. “Hillsboro once ordered 35,000 [tamales] and I’m like, we got it, you know, we got it… That doesn’t scare me,” said Lucy. With her team, who Lucy says a majority of which are single moms, Salsas Locas now fulfills around two to three orders from districts a month.
Burrito assembly line at Salsas Locas. Photo credit: Emilie Chen
Each burrito is branded with a custom stamp to distinguish their fillings. Photo credit: Emilie Chen
“I have a great team who believes in our product… they do it with love,” said Lucy. “I tell them, it’s your kids that are eating this at school, you know. And it’s great when I hear some of the ladies that say, my kid had tamales today at school and they know my mom made this.”
Over the years of selling to school districts, Lucy has continuously adapted her tamale and enchilada recipes to meet the nutritional needs of districts. Districts have asked her to make enchiladas entrees with nontraditional ingredients like brown rice, and tamales with bean and cheese.
“I’m always willing to work with nutritionists. You tell me what you want in there to make the credits, and we’ll do it,” said Lucy.
Through Salsas Locas, Lucy brings her cultural foodways and knowledge to institutional buyers who are serving meals to students of diverse backgrounds. When she was deciding what products to bring to Kara Carsner, the nutrition services manager at Mt. Hood Community College Early and Head Start, for a taste test demonstration, Lucy made a note to bring her enchiladas with guajillo chiles.
“Even though you think little kids might not like that little spice, when you’re Latino… those kids, they start young… that’s what we’re used to eating,” said Lucy. And Kara agreed, saying that some of the young children she serves already want spicier sauces.
Salsas Locas workers prepare corn husks for tamales. Photo credit: Emilie Chen
A Salsas Locas employee loads tamales into a pot for steaming. Photo credit: Emilie Chen
Sustaining her business on the thin profit margins from selling to schools has been difficult.
“I’ve heard some nutritionists say they have $1.60 to spend… shoot, if my tamale is two bucks, how are they going to spend $1.60, you know?” said Lucy. “It’s very hard because I also need to make money. If the tamale is costing me $1.75 to make, I need to make that 25 cents.”
Another obstacle for Lucy is making the initial connection with school nutrition staff. Like other producers we interviewed, Lucy highlights persistence as an essential trait for successful farm to school orders. She says she is always emailing and calling school nutrition service staff and always asking questions.
“Everyone has their own ways, but I think really, for me, there’s been resilience of my mother, and not giving up. [Like] this doesn’t work, let’s try here,” said Lucy.
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