GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Downriver Chip Co., a family-owned tortilla chip maker with roots in southeast Michigan, is expanding its Meijer presence following an initial 12-store launch in 2024.
The company, which manufactures its products in Rockwood, Mich., now sells tortilla chips in flavors such as Sea Salt, Pico de Gallo, Chiloso, and Guac at Meijer stores throughout Michigan.
Downriver Chip Co. traces its roots to nearly 20 years ago, when Orfa Garza began selling homemade flour tortillas to co-workers at an auto supplier. As demand grew, Garza and her husband, Lito Garza Sr., took out a home equity loan to buy equipment and open a small tortilla shop in Melvindale, Mich.
The business eventually became a family operation. Their son, Lito Garza Jr., left a career in civil engineering to join the company, and their daughter, Karina Hecht, joined after earning an accounting degree.
In 2013, the company moved production to a larger facility in Rockwood. Much of its business focused on supplying restaurants with chips and tortillas until the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted restaurant demand.
The family shifted toward co-packing tortilla chips for other companies before deciding to develop its own retail brand.
“If we can do it for others, we should do it for ourselves,” Hecht said.
The family named the brand Downriver Chip Co. after the Downriver communities south of Detroit where its members grew up and continue to operate the business.
“Downriver is not just the name that we gave it, but it’s where we’re from, where we manufacture, where we grew up,” Hecht said.
Landing a place on Meijer shelves had long been a goal for the family. In 2024, Downriver Chip Co. received an opportunity to sell its products in 12 Meijer stores, with Garza Jr. and Hecht initially making early-morning deliveries and stocking shelves themselves.
As sales grew, Meijer expanded the brand to additional locations and partnered with a distributor to supply stores throughout Michigan.
“Everything has a time frame when you’re actually ready,” Garza Jr. said. “We know how to make the chips now. The experience and everything got us to this point.”
For Hecht, the expansion represents a milestone for a business that began with her mother’s homemade tortillas.
“It just validated how hard we’ve worked and how far we’ve come,” she said.
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