Proposed food bank cuts threaten Hollister bakery

Frankie Berlanga’s family business, El Nopal Panaderia and Tortilla Factory in Hollister, supplies about 14,000 fresh tortillas a year to the Community Food Bank of San Benito County—reliably providing a cultural staple for the kitchens and dinner tables of local families and residents in need. 

However, this partnership and other ongoing efforts to combat food insecurity are jeopardized by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, which recommends cutting the state’s CalFood program from $62 million down to $8 million. Such a cut could force El Nopal, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, to let go of some employees and leave the food bank without a source of important nourishment for the community.

“If that happens then our partnership with El Nopal could be reduced, so we won’t be able to have as many tortillas” to give to clients, said Community Food Bank of San Benito County Executive Director Guillermo Rodriguez. “It’s one item that is very important for our community because it’s culturally relevant.”

El Nopal delivers fresh corn and flour tortillas to the food bank, located on San Felipe Road north of Hollister, at least once every two weeks. Last week’s delivery, on Feb. 27, weighed in at 642 pounds before it was carried into the food bank on a forklift. Food bank staff said their purchases from El Nopal amount to about 1,200 bags of tortillas per month. 

Immediately after the delivery, food bank employees and volunteers began unloading the boxes filled with plastic bags of fresh tortillas, handing the bags to clients who were lined up for their weekly pickup of groceries. 

The Community Food Bank serves about 1,500 local families per week. Many of those clients are Hispanic, to whom corn and flour tortillas are a daily food item when available. 

“It would be a dramatic impact” if the governor’s budget proposal is adopted, said Lisa De La Cruz, Operations Manager for the Community Food Bank. “It’s not just the partnership with El Nopal, but it’s with the local organic farmers.”

De La Cruz explained that the excess produce local farmers fail to sell to commercial clients and at farmers’ markets is typically sold to the food bank. “We help them sustain their farms with the food that we purchase,” she said. 

Berlanga started El Nopal’s partnership with the local food bank during the pandemic. The bakery, which was started by Berlanga’s father in 1975, faced the possibility of losing employees due to declining business from restaurants and taco shops that were closing down or drastically cutting back. 

“I reached out to the food bank and they said they would love it,” Berlanga said Feb. 27 at the bakery on Third Street, while taking a quick break from baking the next batch of tortillas with his employees. “I was facing firing two to three people on the tortilla side. The tortillas weren’t sustaining themselves.”

El Nopal also makes bread and other culturally relevant baked goods. The partnership with the Community Food Bank sustains a “big part of the tortilla side of the business,” said Berlanga, whose family has been baking commercially since 1923. 

Thus El Nopal’s partnership with the food bank saved jobs at the bakery. But if the governor’s budget cuts go through and the food bank can no longer afford El Nopal’s fresh tortillas, Berlanga said he might have to consider laying off a couple employees again.

Berlanga explained he learned from his father the value—greater than monetary profits—of being able to give back to the community that has allowed his family to put bread on the table, both literally and figuratively. 

“We’re there for people in good times and bad times,” said Berlanga, who took over El Nopal after his father died in 2018. 

The governor’s proposed CalFood cuts could be filled back in by the state legislature before it adopts a final budget in June. The need is undeniable, as the local food bank’s client numbers are significantly higher than they were even when food insecurity spiked during the pandemic. 

Last year, Californians received nearly $426 million in federal foods distributed by the California Association of Food Banks’ network of food banks. With the association’s 41 food banks serving more than 6 million people monthly, any delay, cancellation, or reduction to CalFresh, school meals, or other critical anti-hunger programs would only add to California’s hunger crisis,CAFB said. 

The CalFood program has been a lifeline to local farms, food banks and families since 2011. Without it, food banks would not be able to purchase diverse dietary and culturally relevant foods that bring their neighbors a sense of dignity; local farms and food producers would see a decrease in profit and face potential layoffs; and the health and wellbeing of older adults and families would be compromised, CAFB said. 

The association noted that one dollar provides about five meals for those in need. 

Lauren Lathan-Reid of CAFB, who was on site at the San Benito County food bank Feb. 27, noted that the proposed cuts include reductions for programs like food stamps and CalFresh. Such cuts would cause the need for donated food to rise even higher throughout California. 

Berlanga’s sympathy transcends himself, as he expressed concern more for his employees, neighbors and peers. 

“The big picture is if the food bank loses funding, that would be detrimental to the people that go to the food bank. Fifteen hundred (families) a week , that’s huge,” he said.