The history of Sonoma Valley Foods is a story of two families—the Rodriguez and the Valencia—which traces its roots back to San Francisco’s Mission District in the 1930’s. As the Latino population began to boom in San Francisco, Trinidad Villaran saw the need for a high-quality Mexican market that could provide both a bakery and handmade tortillas.

As he served the Mission District, his business grew—in 1963, he separated the tortilla factory from the market, where his nephew Alfonso Rodriguez took over and started Mexican Food Products. Alfonso then passed operations over to his wife, Rosa Maria Rodriguez, in 1982. It was around this time that Rosa Maria Rodriguez created the first flavored wraps, beginning with spinach, tomato, chipotle, and whole wheat. While Rosa Maria Rodriguez was busy creating flavorful wraps, in 2001 the Valencia family—the second half of the Sonoma Valley Foods history—opened Tortillería El Molino, a Mexican Specialty Market in Santa Rosa. Like the Tortillerías of Mexico, Tortillería El Molino made tortillas fresh daily so that customers could buy tortillas for each day or even each meal.

Seeking to improve their ability to produce quality Mexican food products, in 2006 the Valencia and Rodriguez families merged Mexican Food Products and Tortilleria El Molino to create Sonoma Valley Foods.