Ricardo Arias

Ricardo Arias
Bake & Cake Decorating Trainer - Southern California

Ricardo Arias has enjoyed a successful career in the baking industry that spans 28 years. Ricardo was born in Morelia Michuacan Mexico. At 14 years of age he went to work in a Tijuana Mexico specialty bakery and started to learn his craft.

He came to the United States in 1981 as an already accomplished baker/decorator and landed a job at Big Deal Bakery located in Costa Mesa, California. He earned his United States Citizenship in 1985.

To advance his career and increase his earning potential he started with Albertsons as a baker in 1988 and stayed for 13 years. Stater Brothers recruited him in 2001 and he worked as a baker until joining Le Grand Marketing in July of 2006.

Ricardo brings his talent and enthusiasm to Le Grand Marketing in a huge way and has assisted in training and presentations for many of our Hispanic chains. He has earned the respect and trust from the management and bakers at Superior Super Warehouse, Jon’s Marketplace, Northgate, Fiesta Foods, Big Saver, Food 4 Less, and Henry’s. He has assisted in the training of new baker’s and played a major part in product rollouts.

His experience in Mexican scratch baking has made him a valuable assets in the presentation and roll out of the new Orange Bakery Mexican Danish blocks.

Carlos Tudela

Carlos Tudela
Bake & Cake Decorating Trainer - Southern California

Carlos Tudela started as a baker apprentice in a scratch bakery in the town of Thorsager, Denmark where he attended the Aarhur Culinary School of Arts. For three and half years he learned the arts of baking and decorating. Additionally he attended a number of seminars at the Odensen Marzipan Factory to expand his knowledge of working with marzipan.

After graduating Carlos worked for several years as the bakery manager in one of the largest supermarkets in the country. In 1998, he left Denmark for Lima, Peru to learn more about his craft. He took Peruvian bread and pasty classes at the Nova Academy and also learned how to work with chocolate at the Neggusa Institute.

At the end of 1998 Carlos moved to the United States where he worked at Epplers Bakery, a renowned bakery in San Francisco, California.

Mr. Tudela has been with Le Grand since 2003, following his passion. He is currently assigned to Albertsons in Southern California.

Marva Taylor

Marva Taylor
Bake Trainer - Southern California

Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, both of Marva Taylor’s parents worked in the supermarkets. Her mom was a buyer for over 20 years with Dales Markets, and her dad was a store manager with Lucky Stores, Boys Markets and then Jons Markets.

Originally hired on with Lucky Markets in the early 1980's, she helped them as they took their initial steps with in-store bakeries. Traveling around to new stores and remodels, Marva was involved with bakery hiring and training, and as well as the overall set up of the bakeries.

Later joining Crown BBK, at the time one of the largest food brokers in Southern California, she gained extensive experience in merchandising and won a number of national awards in display contests and sales.

The next challenge for Marva was joining Jon's Marketplace. Marva was charged with creating and executing a plan for installing in-store bakeries. Starting from the ground up, she put together a mix of frozen dough and thaw & serve products, creating PLU and UPC codes, hiring and training, and merchandising all of the bakeries. In the end the bakeries were making money while keeping their stales in the 7 to 9% range. After a number of years she joined the company in January of 2007 and is currently assigned to Ralphs Grocery Company.

Marva receives a lot of satisfaction from helping people. In her spare time she has volunteered as a youth counselor at her church and a sports director for teen programs.

Maria Serna

Maria Serna
Bake Trainer - Southern California

Maria has been in the grocery industry for the last twelve years, eight of which have been in the bakery. There she learned to bake and soon after to cake decorate.

Maria is currently assigned to Ralph's Grocery Company.

Diana Keller

Diana Keller
Bake & cake Trainer - Northern California

Diana started in the grocery industry at the age of sixteen. She worked as a deli clerk before moving into the bakery as a baker. Diana has been cake decorating for the last fifteen years. In her spare time, she enjoys creating three-dimensional cakes. She appreciates the level of creativity this provides. Additionally, she makes wedding cakes.

Diana joined Le Grand in the capacity of store level training in June 2007. She provides primary technical support throughout Northern California.