History
Alicia Villanueva came to La Cocina, a non-profit incubator kitchen in San Francisco's Mission District, with a dream: to start her own tamale cart as a way to support her family. Alicia launched her sales at the San Francisco Street Food Festival, selling nearly 1,500 tamales in a single day. Seeing the potential in Alicia's Tamales Los Mayas, she piloted a tamale cart from Jeff Burker from Metal Gourmet and was able to begin daily sales at Justin Herman Plaza through a program with San Francisco's Parks and Rec Department. Now, just 5 years later, Alicia has grown her business to move into a 6,000 square feet factory, to scale up to 14 employees and over 24,000 tamales a month. She's a regular at large-scale events and loves her catering clients. The process at La Cocina and other community nonprofits (MEDA, Opportunity Fund, MAF in SF, gave her the confidence and resources, to grow her business and to hire people like her who want to make a living for their families.
Specialties
Alicia's Tamales Los Mayas (ATLM) knows that the best tamales are stuffed with love, and that the best people are stuffed with Alicia's tamales. As a company, ATLM offers the best in tamales and Mexican cuisine, handcrafted with authentic Mexican sazon and uses the freshest and highest quality ingredients available. And, of course, there is the most important touch of all--love. You can currently find ATLM at nearly every major San Francisco festival and event, food and non-food related (Outside Lands, Launch Fest, San Francisco Street Food Festival, SF Beer Week Festival and more). ATLM caters to over 80 companies on a monthly basis through corporate catering partners and provides delicious meals through her private catering. In the next few months you can look forward to having her tamales at your local grocery store! Mission:Alicia's Tamales Los Mayas' mission is to own a successful sustainable business committed to improving the world around us, providing an experience where customers can enjoy delicious, hand-crafted, homemade tamales made from high quality, local and organic ingredients, and most importantly, love. Vision: ATLM's vision is to own a worldwide recognized brand to create opportunities for families and positively impact the community and the planet. Our Team's Core Values: - Love - Fidelity - Humility - Passion - Community - Delicious Tamales!