By Marisa Gerber/Arizona-Sonora News Service
While Richard Rubin and Roberto Klosek ran the printing press, their wives, Imelda and Susan, took to the sewing machines and added final touches to the tortilla warmers.
Although Rubin invented the product, and the men sometimes help out, the women technically own the Rio Rico-based business called “La Tortilla Loca.”
“We just employ the husbands so we can keep an eye on them,” Susan Klosek said, laughing.
Klosek, smiling widely, compared her work to making a sandwich.
First, she picked up a square piece of red and white checkered fabric, then a half-inch-thick piece of insulation material. Next came a piece of plastic that looks like the see-through sheets teachers flop onto overhead projectors, and lastly another piece of fabric.
“Then, I sew the sandwich together,” said Klosek, who was wearing bejeweled cowboy boots.
A few feet to Klosek’s left, the twinkle in 41-year-old Rubin’s eyes turned into a squint as she honed her focus and sewed on a thin red bias, giving the Frisbee-sized warmer its final finesse.
La Tortilla Loca’s circular warmers tout various designs on the front and a chart with microwave heating instructions on the back. The chart explains that it takes 2.5 minutes to heat a dozen corn tortillas.
The Rubins moved from Long Beach, Calif., to Rio Rico in 1995, when Richard and Roberto entered into their first business foray together.
Aside from the their ties at La Tortilla Loca LLC, the men also co-own Javid LLC, a maquildora management company that helps business get set up in Mexico.
La Tortilla Loca LLC started in the Rubins’ garage in 2000, but Imelda Rubin said that, throughout the decade, it took over various other parts of their home, including the living room and studio.
With a newfound emphasis on expansion, the business made its way out of the Rubin’s home and into a production building in July.
Now, a bright red sign welcomes visitors to the new location on one of Rio Rico’s main commerce strips, West Frontage Road.
Imelda Rubin said the warmers sell for $7 at the shop and about $15, including shipping, if ordered online. She added that there’s a discounted price for ordering more than one.
She said the company hopes to thrust into the retail market soon and see its warmers on Wal-Mart shelves.
A few small places – a kitchen shop in Tubac called Tumacookery and a restaurant called Old Town Mexican Café in San Diego – already sell them.
Herb Lizalde, who co-owns the San Diego restaurant, said he heard about the product by word of mouth years ago and thinks it’s great. He said his business orders boxes of 200 warmers every few months or so and sells them at the restaurant with a dozen freshly made tortillas.
To date, La Tortilla Loca makes most of its money by helping other companies make more money via marketing.
Big companies, such as Miller Lite or Bush’s Baked Beans, for example, have ordered tortilla warmers donning their own logos and have used them for promotional purposes, Imelda Rubin said.
John Paul Vyborny, who co-owns a customs brokerage company in Nogales, Ariz., said his company bought tortilla warmers bearing its own logo, phone number and jingle and gave them to potential and existing customers.
“We’ll order again,” Vyborny said. “All the customers loved it, ‘cause it works so well and everybody loves tortillas.”
Thanks to the Internet, individual buyers have stumbled upon the product, too.
Under a “testimonials” section of the company’s website, Samuel and Ana Lia, a couple from Tijuana, Mexico, wrote: “Besides being the greatest way to heat tortillas, it has become a major conversation piece at our parties at home in Tijuana. Gracias, Amigos for making life and partying so much more fun.”
Richard Rubin, who invented the product, said his idea came from a real-life inspiration.
He said he remembers something bugged him about when his wife’s family came to visit over the holidays.
“It just seems so unfair that your mom’s here to see her kids, and she spends half of her time heating tortillas one-by-one,” he said.
He had the idea, but not the materials. But then one day, he had a realization. “I was sitting around eating a Stouffer’s TV dinner and I noticed it had plastic that went in the microwave,” Rubin said. “It would be perfect.”
So, Rubin called up Stouffer’s and asked what kind of plastic it used.
He said Stouffer’s wouldn’t tell him.
But, with some persistence – about 50 phone calls of persistence – Rubin had a breakthrough.
“Some nice person at Stouffer’s finally told me DuPont made it,” Rubin said. “So then I started calling DuPont, an even bigger company than Stouffer’s.”
Rubin hit another roadblock at DuPont, a company that sells science-based products. After a series of calls, however, he became friends with Rose, the operator, and finally found his answer.
The plastic was Mylar.
He said the operator even transferred him directly to the engineer who invented Mylar. After pitching his idea, Rubin said the engineer “just flipped” at the opportunity to use Mylar in a new way and started sending plastic samples.
Imelda Rubin said that until recently, the small-scale operation was ideal because she was busy with the kids, the youngest of whom is now 16.
But now there are “no more kiddies,” Richard Rubin said. “It’s not a home business anymore.”
The Kloseks’ kids are also grown, and so the women agree that they’re ready to expand the business.
Imelda Rubin said last year the company did $47,000 in overall sales. Susan Klosek added, “But we want to do $470,000.”
La Tortilla Loca is already looking to tweak the product to boost business.
Richard Rubin said a customer told him she put a hot dog and bun in the tortilla warmer, zapped it for 35 seconds and said it was the best hot dog she’d ever had.
And now, Richard Rubin said future customers can keep their eyes open for “La Papa Loca” or “The Crazy Dog.”
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