Success story that can’t be too corny

Number 4 on Santa Matilde street, in the district of Cuatro Caminos, conceals a prized treasure for Mexicans living in Madrid: La Reina, a factory that makes corn tortillas that taste just like those back home. “It started out as a game but I don’t want to play anymore,” says Delfina Solorio, the woman who started the business by making 40 tortillas a day in her apartment. Now she and three of her children run a factory that produces five tons of tortillas a month, besides tamales and huaraches.

Adriana Aceves, one of Delfina’s daughters, says that last year sales grew 50 percent, encouraging them to purchase a second machine that should be delivered soon. The proportion between water and flour in a corn tortilla must be exact or the dough will be either too sticky or too dry.

“We talk a lot with our clients to see what is missing to make the tortilla exactly like those back home,” explains Alberto Aceves, who supervises daily operations and fixes the machines. Given that they were made in Mexico, the motor burned out three times during the first few months due to the change in voltage.

Luis was the first member of the family to arrive in Spain, in 2004. His mother, just divorced, joined him and went to see him at the Mexican restaurant where he worked. She was appalled when they served her a taco al pastor on a flour tortilla, rather than a corn one. She suggested making the real thing for him to take to the restaurant. The word soon spread among restaurateurs that there was a woman in town who made corn tortillas. Two years later her daughter Adriana moved to Spain, and the family moved to a three-bedroom apartment. Each day they made 3,000 tortillas by hand, and distributed them all over town. The business was growing and they started a company that year. Delfina’s ex-husband financed the machine and two Mexican restaurant owners (Taquería El Alamillo and La Mordida) loaned them money to rent and fix up the factory. “They believed in their project,” recalls Rita Sánchez, former owner of El Alamillo. “I admire them because they are such a close-knit, hard-working family.”