Tozi Superfoods Takes 1st in H-E-B Contest

Austin business started by Texas McCombs graduate wins $25,000 and placement on store shelves

Tozi Superfoods, co-founded by Rocío León, BBA ’13, has won first place in H-E-B’s 12th annual Quest for Texas Best competition. The Austin business is a family-founded, Mexican-American company that makes blue corn tortillas and blue corn tortilla chips with the superfood amaranth.

It was selected from hundreds of entries and won $25,000 and placement on H-E-B’s shelves. The grand prize winner was another Austin business, Oca Foods, which makes a Brazilian-inspired peanut snack.

León started Tozi with her mother, Bertha León, and her sister, Dr. Maria León, B.S. ’16, in 2024. Her mother is the keeper of their traditional recipes, her sister brings her medical and nutritional expertise to the company, and Rocío León’s fiancé, Charlie Edwards, adds 15-plus years of beverage industry experience to the enterprise.

Inspired by the Aztec goddess of health, Toci, the business created products rooted in ancestral recipes using ingredients backed by modern science, such as antioxidant-rich blue corn and high-protein amaranth.

“I grew up working in my family’s Mexican restaurants in the U.S. and spending summers on our six-generation ranch in Jalisco, Mexico. The ranch inspired my family’s love of ancestral superfoods and instilled the belief that ‘food is medicine.’ That connection to food and health shaped me early on, and I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur like many others in my family,” CEO Rocío León said.

In March 2024, she pitched Tozi to Central Market, and its Hispanic foods buyer encouraged her to develop the business. “I proof-of-concepted the brand at farmers markets that summer, entered specialty retail that fall, and officially launched in all Central Market stores this past June,” she said.

Her classes at Texas McCombs gave her the foundational concepts that are central to how she runs Tozi today, León said. “My supply chain coursework taught me about negotiating with suppliers, logistics, inventory management — skills I use daily. I even did my capstone project on food sourcing with professor (Michael) Hasler, which feels especially full-circle now.”

The McCombs leadership program gave her the confidence and the leadership skills to build and continue building Tozi, she said. “I’m committed to creating a people-first culture, and the support of the McCombs community continues to guide me in that journey. Today, the Women of McCombs network and professors like Priya Kumar remain incredible champions of my path as an entrepreneur.”