The Franzoy Family Story

An Austrian Immigrant's Gamble

Giuseppe "Joseph" Franzoy and his wife Celestina had spent twelve years working in American mines after emigrating from Austria. In 1917, they finally achieved their dream — purchasing 60 acres of wild, uncleared land in tiny Salem, New Mexico, just outside what would become the village of Hatch.

That first summer, the family lived in a tent while Joseph cleared brush and marshland with his bare hands. Legend has it he scolded his sons for being "lazy" when they used horses to pull stumps.

As documented in New Mexico Magazine, Joseph was the first farmer in the valley to grow chile as a commercial crop and transport it to buyers outside the region. He didn't just farm chile — he created the commercial chile industry in Hatch Valley.

The Franzoys weren't the only Austrian family to put down roots. Celestina's sister married the patriarch of the Biad family (Biada before immigration), who settled nearby outside of Garfield. The Biads went on to help build the dehydrated red chile industry and create the oleoresin extraction industry in Southern New Mexico. Two families, one valley, two pillars of the chile economy.

The Second Generation Grows the Valley

Joseph and Celestina raised their children on the farm. Among them, their son Joe continued the family tradition, expanding the operation and deepening the Franzoy name's connection to the Hatch Valley's identity as chile country.

Their daughter Junie married Jim Lytle — a farmer and plant breeder who would go on to develop the Big Jim chile variety in partnership with New Mexico State University. Big Jim set a Guinness World Record at 17 inches and became the most widely planted Hatch chile cultivar in the world. It was named after Jim himself.

Through Joe and Junie, the Franzoy family's influence branched into both sides of Hatch Valley's chile legacy: the farming tradition and the breeding innovation that would define the industry.

Judy Franzoy & Bob Berridge: Chile Royalty

Judy Franzoy, one of Joe's six children, grew up immersed in the rhythms that have defined this valley for a century — planting in spring, harvesting in late summer, the smell of roasting chile drifting across the fields every August and September. She represents the third generation of Franzoys to farm chile in the Hatch Valley.

Judy married Bob Berridge, himself a farmer and the son of Ed Berridge — known locally as "The Old Gringo." Ed's legend lives on as the namesake of the O'l Gringo salsa company. With Franzoy heritage on one side and Berridge heritage on the other, Judy and Bob's descendants carry chile royalty on both sides of the family.

The Internet Meets the Farm

Judy and Bob's daughter Barbara married Greg Mitchell, whose father Dennis had founded the only pharmacy in Hatch in the 1980s — bringing vital services to a small town that desperately needed them. Greg continues to run that pharmacy today. As small business owners, Barbara and Greg kept the family's connection to the land alive while raising their own children with the same values — hard work, quality, and the understanding that Hatch chile isn't just a crop, it's a heritage.

Their son Preston launched the Berridge Farms website at age 12 — one of the first online farm-to-table chile businesses in the country. With entrepreneurial guidance and mentorship from Barbara and Greg, what started as a kid's project would eventually grow into the Hatch Chile Store.

Six Generations and Counting

Preston Mitchell founded the Hatch Chile Store and serves on the board of the Hatch Chile Association, the nonprofit that protects the authenticity of the "Hatch Chile" designation. His sister Taylor helped build the business while in college and is the author of several of the recipes on this site.

The sixth generation — Preston's children, Luke and Emma — are already growing up in the shadow of the same fields their great-great-great-grandfather cleared by hand over a century ago.

Today, the family's operation spans fresh chile, fire-roasted frozen chile, sauces, salsas, and traditional New Mexican foods — all made with certified Hatch Valley chile and shipped nationwide from Southern New Mexico.