The Mission Foods tortilla plant in Pueblo has ceased operations, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice sent to state officials.

Ninety people will be laid off as a result of the closure, according to Friday’s WARN to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Layoffs are slated to start Oct. 13 and be complete by Oct. 27, according to the letter, but the plant shut down operations Friday.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, the union representing workers at the plant, decried the closure. Local 7 President Kim Cordova called the closure the “natural result of years of chronic underinvestment in the Pueblo facility,” adding that it’s a consequence of Mission Foods putting “profit ahead of its people.”

In its news release, UFCW Local 7 said plant workers were “told to immediately pack their things and leave” as production at the plant had ended. In the WARN submitted to the state, Mission Foods said layoffs will happen between Oct. 13 and Oct. 27.

“While manufacturing operations ceased on August 14, affected employees will continue to receive pay and benefits through the facility’s closure date,” said Mission Foods Regional Director of Manufacturing Armando Garza in a statement to The Gazette. “We’re deeply grateful to our employees and are supporting them as they transition to the next step in their careers.”

What became the plant, located at 2110 Santa Fe Dr., first began as a restaurant founded by Candelario “Candy” Estrada and Cedelia “Sadie” Estrada. In the 1950s, their tortillas became so popular, customers asked to buy them in stores. In 1957, they opened the plant to do just that, cementing Candy’s Tortillas as a “veritable institution” in Pueblo, said UFCW in a news release.

The plant workers have been represented by Local 7 for more than four decades, the release said. Many employees were shocked, saddened and angered by the sudden decision, according to the union.

“Mission Foods should have done better by its workers,” said Cordova. “Not only is this closure tragic for our Local 7 members, but also for the entire Pueblo community.”

Mission Foods purchased the Candy Tortilla Factory in 1994. Mission Foods is a subsidiary of Mexico-based Gruma, one of the largest corn flour tortilla makers in the world. The company had an operating income of $890 million, according to its annual report from 2025, the latest available.

Some of the 90 employees will have bumping rights and will “be able to displace more junior employees out of their positions” in the Mission Foods Distribution Center, according to the WARN. The distribution center is also in Pueblo, roughly 3 driving miles from the plant.

Those not represented by the union do not have bumping rights, according to the WARN. So far this year, there have been 39 WARNS affecting 4,884 people in Colorado.