Ruiz Foods, the frozen Mexican meal producer behind El Monterey and Tornados, will cut 176 jobs at its Dinuba plant south of Fresno. The company filed a state WARN notice Friday, signaling its second California workforce reduction since moving its headquarters to Texas in 2024.
Roughly 170 workers face layoffs on Nov. 4. Another six employees had already lost their positions between Sept. 2 and Sept. 9, according to the notice.
Company president and CEO Kimberli Carroll described the decision as difficult but necessary to match production output with projected customer demand. She offered no further explanation in the release.
The privately held company began operations in 1964 with a small warehouse in Tulare and now ranks among the nation’s largest Mexican food manufacturers. Revenue topped $1 billion by 2021, the same era Ruiz Foods relocated its corporate base from Dinuba to Frisco, Texas.
Despite the cuts, the 1,400-worker Dinuba plant will keep running. Ruiz Foods called the facility a critical part of its manufacturing network and promised continued investment there.
Meanwhile, this latest round follows a larger reduction two years ago. In 2023, the company eliminated 215 positions at its Tulare plant, about 25 miles south of Dinuba, after deeming that facility too small and too costly to upgrade for modern production needs.
As a result, the company offered some Tulare employees transfers to Dinuba. Now even that surviving hub faces contraction, raising questions about the long-term footprint of frozen Mexican food manufacturing in California’s Central Valley.
