Chonita Foods

About Us

In the mid 1980’s, Señor José Lichter, a successful produce magnate of Sonora, Mexico founded a USDA food facility just north of the border in Tucson, AZ called Chonita Foods. His passion was to produce and sell traditional tamales, like the ones he enjoyed as a child growing up in Sonora, Mexico. José’s goal was to recreate those childhood favorites, using some of his own farm fresh green chile and corn.

For nearly 10 years, José and Chonita Foods experienced many successful ventures with companies like Price Club/Costco and Circle K stores of AZ. However, due to his age and inability to travel as frequently into the U.S., José decided that it was time to sell his beloved USDA business. José searched for a buyer, but more importantly, he sought a group that he felt would continue producing high quality foods with the same passion as he had during his ownership.

In 1998, his search was over when he met Ray Flores Jr. and his Mother, Chef Carlotta Flores of Tucson’s venerable El Charro Café. Ray Jr. was an up and coming restaurateur and local entrepreneur and Carlotta was the third generation Chef-owner of what is one of the most well known Mexican restaurants in the United States.

Carlotta and Ray Jr. immediately convinced their board of directors (aka their family) that they wanted to proceed with the acquisition of Chonita Foods and soon thereafter took the plunge into the world of USDA Food Manufacturing. The road ahead was one filled with many twists and turns and after numerous efforts with varying levels of success; the Flores family landed in front of another successful “food family” in Arizona, the Basha Family. Bashas’ owned hundreds of grocery stores under several unique brands and immediately found favor in the delicious products that were coming out of Chonita Foods. Soon, Bashas’ decided that they just had to be part of Chonita at a greater level and a partnership was born. Joining the Flores’ and Bashas’ partnership was Scott Butler. Scott is a 25 year+ food industry veteran whose background included running City Meats and US Foods as well as Barone Meats, a USDA meat processor located in Tucson.

Today, Chonita Foods is proud to boast that they have done business with the likes of Bashas’ family of grocery stores, Whole Foods, US Foods, Wild Oats, SYSCO, Shamrock of AZ, and Blue Burrito Grill. Chonita, under the guidance of Chef Carlotta also manufactures many recipes for the family-owned El Charro Café in Tucson, AZ and is one of the reasons why El Charro Café consistently ranks as Tucson’s Best Mexican Restaurant and was named by USA TODAY as “One of the top five ethnic restaurants in the USA”.

Chonita Foods and El Charro Café are a powerful one-two punch in Mexican and Southwestern Foods, but they don’t stop there. Chonita has produced many non-Mexican food items and is also available to manufacture private label recipes upon request.