Paulita's seeks to begin production at MCC in late May

One of the principals for the Paulita's New Mexico food company was busy washing windows Thursday in the gymnasium of the former armory building now owned by Mesalands Community College.

Alan Porter was getting the big room ready so his Rio Rancho-based company could relocate equipment and supplies at the South 11th Street site in the coming weeks and resume production of its New Mexican food by late May.

Porter, who co-founded Paulita's New Mexico with his wife Paula about a decade ago, said he was awaiting a food-production permit from the New Mexico Environmental Department.

Once he has that in hand, Porter anticipates resuming Paulita's previous production levels by early summer at Mesalands.

"We will still be at the same scale as we had in Rio Rancho until the end of the year," he said. "We're going to try to make food in a quality fashion and make sure there's no 'gotchas.' Once we manage to do that, we'll start to scale up ... once we're sure everything we have in Albuquerque shows up on time here and in good condition.

"We have the same problem as everyone else: Our supply chains are very constricted," he added.

Porter anticipates the "scaling up" of operations by early winter, with the hope of tripling production sometime in 2023. He said the eastern half of the United States will play a role in that growth, and that's a key reason he looked to Tucumcari for moving the company.

"Paulita's always has been pointed east, always," he said. "Our intent was to service a market that is removed from the western Arizona and California market. I think that market is oversaturated for Mexican food products. The majority of our sales go east. Our intent is to continue to develop our products lines in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas and points further east."

Porter said Paulita's ships its food to even New York state and several European countries.

Because the company is changing some of its technology, he isn't sure how many workers he ultimately will employ. Porter is committed, however, to a worker-training program to help develop long-term employees.

"My hope is to have three or four people employed by the end of January," he said. "We want to have a core of six employees that are permanent, then cycle students through as a work training area to make up the rest of our manpower."

Porter said Paulita's New Mexico is committed to using the armory space for production for at least three years while looking for a more permanent location in Tucumcari.

"Paulita's is hugely thankful for the spirit of cooperation we have found at Mesalands," Porter stated in an email. "Our partnership will go a long way toward filling the food manufacturing gap in New Mexico."

Another reason Porter said he looked to Quay County as a new home for Paulita's is he has ties to the region. He grew up in Portales and owns a lake home in Logan.

"I've always loved Ute Lake. We've hung around that lake my entire life," he said.

Paulita's New Mexico makes an array of foods using New Mexico green chiles, including chile sauce, green chile stew, seasoning, marinade, salsacue, salad dressing, mac 'n' cheese and salsa. The Porters spent several years developing a method to dehydrate the chiles, making it easier to ship and store for long periods.

Paulita's products are sold in several dozen stores in New Mexico and Texas, and its online store ships nationwide and to several foreign countries.