Why our tamales cost $6.50+:
We don’t get this question very often but we love it when we do (no sarcasm). We know that if you decided to travel 30 (Everett) to 155 (Union Gap) miles, you could get cheaper tamales from other fellow hardworking maker of tamales. It is important to understand why food costs what it costs.
Our food prices reflect the current costs of raw ingredients and costs of doing business. Our pricing allows us to live our business values and our mission: to create jobs that pay wages higher than the minimum wage & provide highly subsidized (75%) high quality health benefits to part-time and full-time employees. On top of paying above industry standard wages, providing an employer-sponsored EAP program & health benefits, we also provide a generous PTO policy. Coupled with our intentional care for our staff, our business provides free meals to any person who needs one, no questions asked. This is our way of giving back. This is how we strive to be a contributing member of our community. Your dollars spent with Frelard Tamales helps us achieve these goals.
There are a few reasons why our tamales are $6.50+:
Our prices support our ability to treat our team members better and provide higher quality food for our amazing and loving tamaleros like you. We love doing business in Seattle & Bellingham. We appreciate you and thank you for allowing us to have a healthy tamaleria in the heart of Seattle.
Our food prices reflect the current costs of raw ingredients and costs of doing business. Our pricing allows us to live our business values and our mission: to create jobs that pay wages higher than the minimum wage & provide highly subsidized (75%) high quality health benefits to part-time and full-time employees. On top of paying above industry standard wages, providing an employer-sponsored EAP program & health benefits, we also provide a generous PTO policy. Coupled with our intentional care for our staff, our business provides free meals to any person who needs one, no questions asked. This is our way of giving back. This is how we strive to be a contributing member of our community. Your dollars spent with Frelard Tamales helps us achieve these goals.
There are a few reasons why our tamales are $6.50+:
- We pay our team members higher than minimum wage & evaluate pay every six months.
- We provide paid sick time, paid holidays, and paid vacation (up to 7 days per year).
- We provide highly subsidized health benefits including medical and dental by paying for 75% of premiums for part-time and full-time team members.
- We use higher quality ingredients like our organic and natural meats. For example, a pound of regular pork meat is $1.50 but we choose Carlton Farms pork from Oregon which costs over two to three times more. We also use Draper Valley Chicken which is all-natural local chicken vs. the mass factory meat options available at traditional restaurant suppliers.
- Our tamales are about .5 lbs which is about double the weight than your traditional southwest/Texan/homemade tamales. Typical tamales weigh about 1/4 pound. Ours are twice the size of other average tamales.
- Cheaper isn’t always better 🙂 Cheaper means some corners are being cut and someone is on the losing end.
- We continue to donate 10-20% of our profits to community organizations and community events including school auctions, food banks and issue-based advocacy organizations.
Our prices support our ability to treat our team members better and provide higher quality food for our amazing and loving tamaleros like you. We love doing business in Seattle & Bellingham. We appreciate you and thank you for allowing us to have a healthy tamaleria in the heart of Seattle.
