BY JOE ARCE AND COREY CRABLE
In depth report
After four years, former owner Rachael Gutierrez Kelly was on the verge of closing its doors, Art’s Mexican Products has found a second life after its product line was sold to the Gencarellis of Yoli’s Tortilleria. And Marissa and Mark Gencarelli say they’re all too aware that the foundation of any taco is a fresh, durable tortilla.
Founded in 1961 by Art and Angela Gutierrez, Art’s Mexican Products, which specializes in tortillas, chips, sauces, and masa. Angela’s daughter, Rachael Gutierrez Kelley, managed the store when her parents retired, staying at its helm into her mid-70s. But as retirement neared for Rachael, it became clear that no one in the family was interested in inheriting the longtime business.
Enter Marissa and Mark Gencarelli, owners of the James Beard Award-winning Yoli Tortilleria, who “vowed to continue the Art’s legacy by preserving the core product line while expanding brand awareness through distribution at Whole Foods stores,” and at other food markets in other states.
Marissa says that one of the first questions she and Mark received as the new owners was: Are the products going to change?
“We wanted to honor the family Gutierrez and the products. They started the company in 1961,” she says. “And we weren’t going to change the Mexican products. All the consumers love the products for a reason. And we understood that.”
Marissa, who was born in Sonora, Mexico, is especially qualified to keep the Art’s Mexican Products alive, the press release adds.
Marissa Gencarelli draws inspiration from her childhood traveling throughout Mexico, and honors traditional processes in her work by sourcing local and seasonal Midwestern ingredients. She has been recognized locally and nationally for both her commitment to quality and leadership. Her accolades include Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Food by Cherry Bombe, Kansas City Business Journal Women of Influence, Fuerza Femenina from the Mexican National Team, and the Nuestra Latina Award from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Marissa told Hispanic News that from the beginning, she and Mark agreed not to mess with a good thing. After all, customers have been coming back to Art’s for more than 60 years, and diners can now find them in local restaurants like Margarita’s and in food trucks like the ones operated by Lily’s Cantina.
“For me, the purity of that product was what was most important,” Marissa says. “What I do love also about Art’s is that they do things that are more Mexican-American in the sense that they had to adapt to their surroundings. And by this, I mean the super thin chip is something that you don’t really see in Mexico. But I absolutely adore it because for me, that’s like nostalgia in the United States. And I think that that was something that was super attractive to me.”
Shoppers can find Art’s tortillas in Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, and Hen House stores. As for their chips, Marissa says that although she knows Whole Foods is known for its healthy food offerings, the ingredients in Art’s chips are simple.
“It’s just corn, water, and lime that goes into the tortilla that gets cut and then fried in salt. That’s it, if you looked at all these other chips, you’ll see a gazillion ingredients, and all the products here are super clear, so it’s a brain no-brainer,” she says.
One of the things that the new owners have carried over from the Gutierrez family is a commitment to using the Nixamalization process in cooking the company’s famous chips. In Nixtamalization, the grains used for the chips are soaked and cooked in limewater, improving its nutritional value, flavor, and aroma. If Marissa and Mark had nixed the Nixtamal process, “it wouldn’t be our tortilla.”
“And for me, you’re looking for that true corn taste,” Marissa adds. “When you have a non-nixed tortilla, you can taste it on the back of your mouth. There’s a certain sweetness to it. And then eventually, when you’re reheating it, it just falls apart.”
Marissa remembered the moment when Rachael Gutierrez Kelly called her back after the Gencarellies had called to express an interest in buying the business.
“(Rachael) watched us develop our own product,” Marissa says, “and she understood that we would go ahead and follow that integrity with her product.”
The Gencarellies also made a major change to the store by changing its name and branding, Marissa adds.
“Now we also call it Art’s Molino and Market because it has a beautiful mill on the back. And the stones are really, really big. And we can make the most beautiful masa. We make one that is a lot finer,” she says. That fine masa quebrada, she observes, makes the fluffiest tamales.
And even though she’s enjoyed meeting regular customers, Marissa says she enjoys hearing their memories even more.
“We have a lot of customers that come into the storefront at 615 Kansas Avenue, and they’ll talk about how, ‘My mom brought me here, and her mom brought her here,’ and so on,” Marissa says. “They’re keeping up that family tradition, so it’s pretty neat to hear.”
Customers of Art’s Mexican Products say that, four years after the ownership transfered, they still buy some of the products they’ve enjoyed for decades.
“Normally I usually just get the corn tortillas. There’s two different brands I get,” longtime customer Robert Lopez says. “And then I get the enchilada sauce all the time.”
Still, he notes he doesn’t see the variety on store shelves that he enjoyed when the Gutierrez family owned the brand.
There is a reason for that, Marissa notes. She says that both an economic downturn and the decade-long closure of the 23rd Street Bridge have affected their offerings.
“One of the things that we shifted in our store -- it used to carry a lot more other products, and we just did not have any more traffic. So now everything we produce here is what’s in our shop, but we don’t do anything beyond that. The reason is just because there’s no more not as much walk-in traffic anymore.”
Lopez says that when he makes enchiladas for family and friends, he always makes sure to mention he bought the enchilada sauce at Art’s Mexican Products.
“I just like the flavor. Everybody else seems to like it, too, when I make them,” Lopez says. “They might ask me if I made the sauce or not, and I tell them, ‘No, I always buy it at Art’s. It’s one of Art’s products.’”
Art’s tortillas are durable and hearty – perfect for cutting up and frying into chips, Lopez adds.
“These tortillas taste a whole lot better (than the Mission brand). Everybody likes the chips that I make,” he says. “When I head to Art’s, I always buy 55 dozen tortillas. And I just bring them home and split them up and put them in the freezer. I use them a little bit at a time. I always use their pack of 4-inch tortillas for enchiladas. It’s a little thicker tortilla.”
Marissa says those smaller tortillas have exploded in popularity, thanks to food trucks everywhere.
“There’s a huge demand with the food trucks and a lot of that in the area restaurants,” she says, “and a lot of people like to use (4-inch tortillas). Of course, the most traditional use for it is al pastor tacos. That’s the most traditional. And typically, in al pastor, you would have a copia. Which means they double the tortilla.”
When he heard back four years ago that Rachael Gutierrez Kelley was trying to sell the company, Lopez recalls feeling a moment of worry.
“I thought, ‘Oh, man, if they close up now, where would I get that type of tortilla at?’” he says, “because I don’t know any businesses that make that same quality of tortillas.”
He’s glad, however, that the company has survived under new leadership.
“She (Rachael) passed it on and they kept the name and the quality.”
Lopez says he loves Art’s products so much, he doesn’t even mind making the drive to wherever they’re carried. He’ll put miles on his car, he says, just for that familiar taste.
“I don’t mind the drive,” Lopez says. “I don’t live close, but I don’t mind going all the way down there to where they’re located and get what I need.”
As for what the future holds, Marissa says she and Mark want to introduce their brand on a national stage, taking the locally beloved Art’s products to kitchen tables around the country.
“That’s our goal. We want to make it into a national brand,” Marissa says. “We think the product is delicious. We think it has a lot of history, and I think it carries a lot of weight on just overall what it means to be a Mexican-American. ... Mexican food is no longer just for the Hispanic market. It’s for everyone.”
For more information or to shop Art’s product line, visit https://www.artsmolinoandmarket.com/, or call 913-371-2163.
