By Ebony L. Morman 

It’s not even 9 a.m., but there’s already a traffic jam in front of the De La Vega Tortillas stand at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market. A hint of warm corn moves through the air, pulling people toward a table layered in vibrant, woven cloths — stripes of blue, red, green, yellow, and white. Lined up across the table are bags of heirloom corn chips in bold flavors: sea salt lime, pineapple chipotle, jalapeño, cilantro. Behind the table, co-owner Ruben Gomez moves like he’s in his element — warming tortillas on a hot plate, slicing strips for samples, answering questions with ease. 

“This was my punishment,” he says, smiling wide as he tells a handful of people about how his mother used to send him to the kitchen when he got in trouble. Now, decades later, he moves just like someone who’s done this their whole life. His voice rises a bit, sharing the health benefits, the heritage, the why behind every tortilla. Regulars hype him up, talking excitedly about how they come every week and how “these tortillas will make you scream.”

He passes around pieces of a fresh, steaming tortilla. It’s soft and light. One bite, and people are talking over one another about the flavor, the freshness, the way it folds without breaking after Ruben balls it up in his palm like a dumpling.

Off to the side, racks are stacked with dry tortilla mixes, spice kits, marinades, and salsas. It feels less like a stand and more like a get-together — one where everyone feels a little more like family than they were just minutes before.

The atmosphere at the stand feels less about making a sale and more about a moment. It’s about making connections, about tradition, and about literally passing that tradition hand to hand. 

That sense of joy, care, and culture is exactly what fuels De La Vega Tortillas, the Charlotte-area company Ruben and his wife, Cherai, have built from the ground up.

When the couple got married in 2018, they weren’t planning on launching a tortilla company. But seven years later, they’re handcrafting tens of thousands of tortillas each week, running a team of 19, and growing their business one farmers market, one family recipe, and one meaningful connection at a time.

For Ruben, cooking goes way back to his childhood kitchen, where tortillas were both bonding time and discipline.

“I’ve been making tortillas since I was five,” he says. “It brings back memories of being in the kitchen with my mom. That’s when she’d open up, talk about her childhood, her mischief, my aunts and uncles.”

At the time, cooking wasn’t his choice. It was the result of getting into trouble.

“It wasn’t like, go to your room. It was, you earned a day in the kitchen,” he says. 

He was in trouble a lot, and that’s why he cooks so well, Cherai adds. 

One night, Ruben was hand-rolling tortillas at home. Store-bought options weren’t working because he’s allergic to the preservatives and additives found in packaged tortillas. He said, “Sure would be nice if we could buy these somewhere.”

Cherai, who comes from a background in occupational therapy but has a knack for business, felt something click.

“A light bulb went off in my head,” she says. “I was like, that’s what we need to do.”

They did market research and discovered a gap: no one nearby was making fresh, high-quality, preservative-free tortillas. So they decided to fill it.

Ruben and Cherai officially launched De La Vega Tortillas in March 2023, naming the company after Ruben’s mother, Maria De La Vega. Their first pop-up was at a small farmers market in Monroe. They hand-rolled the tortillas and sold out in 45 minutes.

“We made more,” Cherai says. “And then the next time we went, we sold out in an hour.” 

People responded so eagerly that Ruben quit his job as an interpreter in June. Cherai followed in October. The couple committed full-time to running the tortilla business.

Today, De La Vega Tortillas operates in 23 retail stores and six farmers markets, including Columbia’s Soda City Market. They produce 30,000 to 50,000 tortillas per week, not including chips, another fast-growing part of the business.

Their business is built on two core values: real ingredients and real relationships. Both flour and corn tortillas are offered but their heirloom corn is imported from Oaxaca, Mexico, grown by families using traditional, non-GMO methods — no pesticides, no irrigation, just rain and time. There aren’t any chemicals or preservatives in any products, which means they can serve a broader audience. 

“I’m really happy about that because that makes a lot of difference,” Ruben says. “When I hear people who have gluten sensitivity tell me, ‘you’re the only flour anything I can eat without breaking out or having issues in my stomach,’ I think it’s awesome. And it’s not because we have a special wheat or anything. It’s because we don’t put in any junk or chemicals.” 

The tortillas are soft yet strong, able to hold a full burrito without cracking, and the flavor speaks for itself, Cherai says. 

“You can say whatever you want, but unless the person actually tastes it, you can’t put those words into full function in their head,” Ruben says. “And that’s my favorite part to see the giant smile and the eyebrows go up and they’re like, ‘What in the world am I eating? That’s a real tortilla here.’”

It takes hard work to make real tortillas, and it starts with Ruben. He runs production, overseeing inventory, fixing machines, ensuring quality control, and works direct sales, which both he and Cherai love. Cherai manages operations, finances, customer service, and communication. 

The couple has three main goals: to work together, to share an amazing product, and to create good jobs in a safe, supportive environment. They focus on hiring immigrants — many of whom don’t speak English and are from Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras — and give them a fair shot to use their talents, earn a solid wage, and be home with their families each night. Their team includes a chip team, a market team, and a tortilla team. 

Beyond the growth and success, what matters most is being together. 

“We spent 25 years with the wrong person,” Cherai says. “We lost so much time. You only have so much time on earth, and we want to make the most of it.”

The two laugh, joke, and balance each other out, business-wise and personally.

“Being able to work side by side with my wonderful wife, I really enjoy that,” Ruben says. 

While they’re still working on plans to visit Oaxaca to meet the families who grow their corn and sample the food they’ve heard so much about, the business continues to grow in ways they never expected.  

“It’s such a good feeling that we’re doing good, and it’s growing, and it’s exciting,” Ruben says. “That, to me, is a really sweet spot, and we’re able to help others around us, and that’s really rewarding.”