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Article: Family finds gold in those corn tortillas; Few listened to the Payans when they talked up tortillas. They proved the naysayers wrong.(NEWS)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- November 18, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Matt McKinney; Staff Writer
A few years ago, there was just low-wage job after low-wage job for Jose and Noemi Payan, recent arrivals in Minneapolis. Then they began peddling an unlikely product: fresh corn tortillas.
Today they have dozens of employees, three locations, a fleet of delivery trucks and 250 restaurants on their customer list. They make and sell more tortillas than anyone else in the city.
The Payan family's rise from virtual nobodies to something more like royalty among the city's burgeoning Hispanic and Latino population is a reminder of the familiar narrative of the American dream, especially at a time of heated debate ...