The Maria Luna Food Service Facility will include administrative offices for the Food & Child Nutrition Services department, central food services warehouse/commissary, and central food production kitchen. Planning for the new facility includes space for future growth in the district. All activities related to the operation of the Food & Child Nutrition Services department will be consolidated at the new 153,575 square-foot facility.
Biography of Maria Luna
The facility is named for Maria Luna, a Mexican immigrant and community leader in Little Mexico who was the only female charter member of the Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. After she and her family came to Dallas in 1923, Luna took a job at a grocery store. In the back room of the store, Luna used the store owner's corn grinder to grind corn for families in the neighborhood.
In less than a year, she had purchased the grinder and started a family-run tortilla factory that eventually expanded to include other products. The business grew quickly, and by 1938, Luna had moved the business to a larger building in downtown Dallas. Today, Luna's Tortillas is still owned and operated by Maria Luna's family.
