It’s not a party without chips Ste. Anne-based La Cocina Foods sets table for fire-delayed 40th anniversary celebrations Made in Manitoba
By: Aaron Epp Posted: 5:00 AM CDT Monday, Jul. 14, 2025 Last Modified: 1:03 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2025 Updates

STE. ANNE — Pat and Jodi Warkentin had a vision for their company’s 40th anniversary — until a fire threatened to derail it.

Pat was in Vancouver for a trade show one Saturday in April 2024, when he received a phone call letting him know there was fire coming out of one of the chimneys at La Cocina Foods, the tortilla chip business the Warkentins own and operate about 50 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.

Everything appeared to be fine the night before, when employees shut things down for the weekend, but a piece of machinery overheated after everyone left. A neighbour was walking his dog at 5:30 a.m., when he spotted the flames and called Pat.

More than a year later, Pat recalls the terrible feeling that hit him after his neighbour gave him the news.

“You never want it to happen, but to be that far away …” the 47-year-old says, trailing off.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but not before it caused more than $1 million in damage to the factory’s interior, leaving one of La Cocina’s two production lines out of commission for four months.

Pat and Jodi, 44, were heartened to discover that when the chips were down, staff members rallied.

The Warkentins gathered everyone in a room and explained while the production line was being repaired, the company would have to run its second line 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep production going. Everyone would keep their jobs, provided they were willing to work irregular shifts.

Pat recalls the room falling silent as staff members processed the news. One woman broke the silence and said the employees were happy to have their jobs and would do what they had to do to keep going.

“It boosted the morale in a really low time,” Pat recalls. La Cocina has grown around 40 per cent annually for the last dozen years, but “you don’t really know what your company is made of until you face adversity.”

For Pat, witnessing staff members’ resilience gave the 40th anniversary new meaning.

“It became a very different celebration than we had anticipated,” he says. “It felt satisfying … I don’t know how else to put it. It was satisfying.”

Pat was a child when his father, Peter, and his aunts, Edith and Eleanor, started the business.

Missionary work brought the sisters to Mexico and they stayed there for more than a decade. They returned to Manitoba with their favourite Mexican recipes and dreams of starting a tortilleria. They recruited Peter, a farmer, to help them and opened La Cocina — Spanish for “the kitchen” — in a 3,500-square-foot shop on his farm in 1984.

The company got its start producing six-inch corn tortillas, which it still makes to this day.

Soon, Peter was experimenting with making tortilla chips. Through trial and error he created a recipe he was happy with and La Cocina started producing them. The chips quickly became more popular than the tortillas.

About 15 years ago, Pat and Jodi were living in the Alberta-Saskatchewan border city of Lloydminster when Peter and his wife, Florence, visited them. Peter was losing interest in running the company and was considering selling it. Pat had never envisioned taking over La Cocina, but felt strongly about keeping the business in the family.

In 2011, he and Jodi bought Edith and Eleanor’s half of the company and moved back to Manitoba to take over operations. Peter kept his 50 per cent of La Cocina and returned his focus to farming — something he still does today at 79.

Pat and Jodi did just about everything themselves over the next few years, with occasional help from part-time employees. Jodi was already familiar with the process, as she had spent a year working at the company when she was a teenager.

“It was an exciting thing to actually move back here because I was familiar with it,” Jodi says. “Me and him (Pat) could work together and plan all day long. We could plan and dream and we had to work pretty hard, which was good for us … I look back with fond memories now to that. Simple times.”

In 2016, the couple built a 6,500-sq.-ft. factory on a piece of land they bought next to Peter’s farm. They expanded the facility in 2018, 2021 and 2024. It’s 54,000 sq. ft. now, with another addition is planned for later this year. Around 50 people work at the company.

La Cocina uses up to five different varieties of corn, which are grown in Mexico and the southern United States. Staff process up to 16,000 kilograms every 24 hours.

The company produces around 10 million bags of chips annually. They come in four styles: Original, Thick Cut, Ranch and Fiesta. While most of La Cocina’s products are sold in Western Canada, they’re available in stores — including major grocery chains — throughout the country and in parts of the U.S.

La Cocina is well-known in the Eastman region, says Tessa Masi, executive director of the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce.

When the chamber held its third annual Taste of Steinbach event in May — a dinner for 600 people that showcases local food — La Cocina were among the first producers to donate to the event. The company also donates to local food banks, Masi notes.

“La Cocina has been very generous in the community,” she says.

While Masi doesn’t personally know the Warkentins, she describes the La Cocina employees she is familiar with as “phenomenal to work with.”

“You can tell just by interacting with the other team members that there’s a great work culture in their business and the employees really care about what they do,” she says.

Jodi attributes the company’s success to “faith and coffee.” Hard work, good timing and amazing employees have also helped, Pat adds.

“I don’t care if I’m not known at all or (if) people don’t know my accomplishments,” Pat says. “If they know the brand and they know the product, then I’m happy.”

Jodi notes food’s ability to bring people together and foster relationships, referencing a line on the company’s website: “Our products are more than just food — they’re a gateway to feeding the soul.”

Now that there are no literal fires to contend with, La Cocina is getting around to some of the special activities the Warkentins planned to coincide with last year’s 40th anniversary. That includes releasing a limited edition churro flavour in time for the Christmas holidays.

The company plans to introduce another flavour in 2026, and add a third production line to its factory in 2027. With the expansion will come more hires.

“You have to adapt to change pretty quick here,” Pat says. “That’s one of the things we tell everybody when they come on board: nothing will be the same by the end of the year.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca