Meet Your Chef: Heriberto Gutierrez
Photos by John Abrams
18 Years and Counting…
Heriberto joined the Ready Foods family 18 years ago, cooking jalapeños and tomatoes before they were made into a salsa.
Heriberto’s interest in food began on his family’s farm, cultivating and tending to the crops. Snakes and scorpions came with the farming life, which Heriberto was not a fan of, and his fear of those creatures brought him to Colorado to experiment with different jobs in a different area of the food industry. Since leaving the farm, most of his job experience has been in a variety of restaurants.
Through word of mouth, Heriberto was encouraged to become part of the Ready Foods family and he did. He was especially attracted to the benefits that came with the job… working regular hours, having holidays off and more time with his family, something he missed out on when he was working in restaurants.
When he is not at work, Heriberto enjoys eating out with his family and when he sees items that Ready Foods cooks he proudly says to his kids, “I made that!”
Now almost two decades later, Heriberto is one of our longtime cooks and has made just about everything in our recipe book. As time has moved forward, the equipment and technology at Ready Foods has changed. Heriberto likes working with these new tools, like the iPad temperature regulation, as they make production easier, safer and more engaging.
On his days off, Heriberto joins his brother who works at an Italian restaurant cooking pastas, where he can express his love for food, cooking in a different setting. One of the hobbies he enjoys with his wife, Maria, is going out dancing. While at home, he likes to cook for his family, he frequently makes a favorite dish called discada, a recipe that contains a variety of meats cooked over an open flame and served with tortillas and hot sauce.
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Marco’s items can be found through distributors in several states, including Colorado, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Nebraska and more!