Cacique LLC — a privately-owned Hispanic foods company that boasts the No. 1 brand of authentic Mexican-style cheeses, cremas and chorizos in the United States — said it officially broke ground on an $88 million dairy processing facility in Amarillo, Texas. The new 200,000-square-foot facility will help meet the growing demand for Cacique's products nationwide. The company is planning to begin operation at the new facility in the fall of 2022 and expects to create approximately 200 new full-time jobs. 

Los Angeles-based Cacique said the new facility will be equipped to handle dairy processing, including production of the company's authentic Mexican-style cheeses, cremas and yogurts.

"After an extensive, national search, we are very happy to select Amarillo, Texas, as the location of our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility," said Gil de Cardenas, CEO of Cacique. "We are grateful to the governor's office, Randall County and the City of Amarillo for their hospitality, work and support throughout the site selection process and in helping us usher in the next era of growth for our company.

“From our first visit, we knew that Amarillo was special,” he added. It's a vibrant, thriving and diverse melting pot of cultures, and we're thrilled to become part of this local community as we put down some new Cacique family roots in the great state of Texas."

The project benefits from receiving a Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant from the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In addition to the TEF grant, the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) and the City Council of Amarillo recently approved an incentive package for the expansion project, Cacique said.

"I am proud to welcome Cacique to Texas and excited for the incredible impact they will make on our state's economic success story," Abbott said. "Amarillo is a natural home for Cacique, as the Texas Panhandle is a magnet for the manufacturing and food processing industries. Thank you to Cacique for choosing to invest in the Lone Star State. I look forward to working with them as we usher in a more prosperous future for all Texans."

The plant will feature state-of-the-art technology, allowing Cacique to increase its overall capacity and meet the growing demand for its market leading products. In addition to expanding production capacity with the introduction of the new plant, Cacique said it intends to increase research and development to drive product innovation and to continue to sustainably enhance its national presence as part of the company's long-term growth strategy.

Cacique operates multiple complementary facilities that enable efficient production at scale, including a dairy processing plant in City of Industry, Calif., a meat processing plant in Cedar City, Utah, and a salsa processing plant in Gilbert, Ariz.