Commitment to Community
Bueno Foods’ purpose is to have a positive influence on people’s lives through our products and organization. We strive to make people’s lives better through the opportunities and jobs we provide and through our community involvement. From its inception, Bueno Foods has always believed in giving back to its community. We are a home-grown part of this community and we want to make a difference.
Employment and Economic Development
Bueno Foods has been committed to this community since 1951. A conscious decision was made to stay in the Barelas community to bring jobs to this economically-depressed “Pocket of Poverty” and where the Baca family has its roots. Bueno Foods employs about 225 people year-round and up to 350 people during peak season.
Bueno Foods offers a wide variety of workforce benefits, including medical, dental, disability and life insurance, a 401k profit-sharing plan with company match, compensated leave for holidays, vacation, illness and bereavement, tuition reimbursement, second language programs, ongoing education and training opportunities, and product discounts. Bueno Foods also offers an aggressive internal promotion program. There are countless examples throughout every department of internal promotions, based on merit. Manufacturing is a growing and very important part of the Albuquerque business base. As its payroll and purchases ripple through the economy, Bueno Foods supports secondary businesses and employment Also, Bueno Foods brings money back home for local reinvestment from its sales outside of the community.
Helping to Meet Basic Needs
We support organizations that serve the most vulnerable in our community including impoverished children and women, the homeless and hungry.
We regularly donate thousands of dollars worth of food to local food banks, to centers that feed the homeless and to community organizations for their fundraising activities.
We support a host of organizations through United Way. We continually support many church and community fundraising activities by contributing product, money and volunteers especially for programs that benefit women and children. We participate in and sponsor local fundraising events for many causes.
Sponsorships and Donations
To learn more about sponsorship and donation opportunities please click here.
Encouraging Education
In 2006, we created our Rewards for Good Grades program for the children and grandchildren of our employees to encourage education and to relay the message: education is the key to opportunity. At report card time, we give cash for good grades (As and Bs) to the high school, middle school and elementary age children of our employees. For any high school or GED graduates among them, we give a bonus gift of cash.
Over the years, Bueno Foods has sponsored many $1000 scholarships through the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce for minority high school seniors and has supported the UNM Presidential Scholarship program and minority scholarships at Highlands University.
Our company is a Join-A-School partner with Dolores Gonzales Elementary School, providing food for fundraisers, money for computers, books and field trips, and savings bonds for diligent students. The company also encourages literacy by giving bilingual picture books, written by one of the owners, to second graders at its partner school and to many other elementary schools across New Mexico. For our 60th anniversary, we gave 600 hardback bilingual picture books to children across New Mexico.
We also support the Golden Apple Foundation which recognizes and rewards educators.
Jacqueline Baca has co-taught Management 493: Family Business at the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. Jacqueline Baca served on the 2003 University of New Mexico Presidential Search Committee, representing the UNM Alumni Association.
Members of the Baca family have served on many scholarship committees for the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, PNM and McDonald’s HACER program.
Supporting the Barelas Community
Bueno Foods supports the South Valley community of Barelas where Bueno Foods is located by providing hundreds of jobs in this “Pocket of Poverty.” We have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Barelas community through federal grant programs that are used for housing and community development. The company has contributed thousands of dollars to the National Hispanic Cultural Foundation, which benefits the National Hispanic Cultural Center, whose mission is to maintain and celebrate the Hispanic heritage. We have sponsored the New Mexico Chile Harvest Festival which brought the greater Albuquerque community into the heart of Barelas to enjoy food and culture. Jacqueline Baca served on the Board of the Barelas Community Development Corporation (CDC).