Hacienda Mexican Foods greens up SW Detroit food processing facility

Lydia Gutierrez can sum up in a sentence what she wants from her efforts to make her company, Hacienda Mexican Foods, a greener, more sustainable business.

"You want to do as much as you can with as little energy as possible," Gutierrez says.

The Mexicantown-based tortilla maker is leveraging a SmartBuildings grant from the city to make energy efficiency improvements to Hacienda Mexican Foods food processing facility on 6100 Buchanan. The $33,149 grant from the city will go toward a $132,597 project to make the building a greener, more cost-effective facility.

The improvements include installing weather-stripping to prevent heat loss in the winter, along with window replacement. The project will also install new lighting that uses significantly less electricity. Gutierrez expects the energy-efficiency improvements to create at least 10 percent energy savings for the company.

Hacienda Mexican Foods is working with O'Brien Construction to complete the project. Work will begin this month and wrap up by this summer.

Source: Lydia Gutierrez, owner of Hacienda Mexican Foods
Writer: Jon Zemke

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