Click here to take a walk through of our past 26 years.

Whether in business or in one’s personal life, the power of incorporating a strong philosophy of excellence cannot be underestimated. Gringo’s Tex-Mex opened on January 11, 1993, with a purpose and focus to enrich lives One Taco at a Time by serving the highest quality Tex-Mex and offering it at the absolute lowest price possible. This focus alone has carried Gringo’s for 27 years and, God willing, will carry us for another 27 years and beyond.

I still pinch myself every day because Gringo’s was not supposed to happen, but despite all odds, it did. Along the 27-year journey, our company has enriched the lives of so many individuals. The feelings I get when reflecting on the many years of serving enchiladas, rice, and beans, is one that can only be described as gratitude beyond measure.

To each and every guest, Thank You. Our success and longevity would not be possible without you.

For my final gratitude post of 2019, I want to take this opportunity to thank several people who have been instrumental in the growth and success of our company. All of them are an important piece of the puzzle that has helped make Gringo’s and Jimmy Changas what it is today. I could not have done any of it without them.

But, I would first like to begin by thanking the most important and influential person in my life, my wife Monica. Monica was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1964 to Jaime and Leonor Moscoso. Shortly after Monica was born, her father made the decision to immigrate to the United States and with only a few dollars in his pocket ends up in Queens, New York. The plan was that he would arrive first and get settled in Queens and then have Leonor and Monica join him. Jimmy, as we like to call him, begins immediately working at a White Castle restaurant while still looking for work in his profession as a Tool and Die Maker. Once Jimmy got situated with a job and an apartment, Monica’s mother and her make the journey to join him.

After living through several very cold winters in New York, Jimmy got tired of digging his car out of the snow before going to work every day so he decides to move to Texas. Dallas seemed like a good choice but once there he was unable to find a job that satisfied his skillset. After 3 months of struggling he was ready to head back to New York when he remembered a family friend that lived in Deer Park, TX. One call was all it took for the friend to encourage Jimmy that there would be plenty of work for him in Houston. The family ends up moving to Deer Park and settled at Casa Maria apartments on Spencer Highway. A few years later they purchase a new home in the nearby Brooklyn subdivision.

I first met on Monica on December 3, 1977, at a birthday party. I went there with my cousin Steve Rodriguez and best friend Mark Traxler. I’m very thankful that God gave me a good set of eyeballs back then for a 16-year-old. I can still remember the very moment I first laid eyes on Monica as I walked into the living room, turned to my left and saw what I thought was the most beautiful girl in the world sitting on the couch. I had the exact same reaction Forrest Gump had when he first saw Jenny on the school bus.

Monica is a very private person, so I have to respect her wishes and limit what I’m able to share about her, publicly. But what I can say about her is this, she is the kindest person I’ve ever met. Monica brings automatic calmness to anyone she meets. I always tell her that she’s the best daughter, sister, mother, sister-in-law, wife, and nana any person could ever hope to have. Her inward beauty matches her outward beauty. So, as Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have attracted some of the best talent to come work with me. My senior leadership team consists of Jonathan Kim (See November Gratitude Post to read about Jonathan Kim), John Fernandez, Danny Hanks, and Heather McKeon. They have been with the company for an average of 20 years. Each one of them could easily run the company with the same passion and commitment to excellence as I do.

I first met John Fernandez shortly after we opened the very first Gringo’s in 1993. He lived a couple of streets over and would often visit the restaurant along with his younger brother, Rick. The moment I met John I immediately knew that his personality was exactly the kind that I needed to help me run the restaurant. Since John was already a huge fan of Gringo’s, I asked him to consider coming to work for me. It was obviously a huge gamble for him since at the time we were only a single unit operation. When John finally agreed to join Gringo’s he only had one request, he wanted to finish college at the University of Houston. John joined us in June of ‘95. John’s positivity and compassion has been very instrumental in helping build the unique culture at Gringo’s. As the general manager of this location from 1995 to 2005, John’s enthusiasm to motivate the staff to excellence is something to witness. I appreciate John more than he will ever know. I’ve told him on several occasions that had he never joined me 24 years ago, Gringo’s might still be around, but it would not be the same company that it is today. Thank you, John.

John Fernandez & Jonathan Kim at Pull-Ups For A Purpose

Danny Hanks joined Gringo’s in La Porte as a very young server in February of 1998. Because of Danny’s incredible work ethic, he moved up quickly to become an assistant manager, then general manager at the Gringo’s in Texas City. Danny was then put in charge of our flagship location, The Original Gringo’s, in Pearland in 2005 where he was the GM until 2017 when Matt Bussa is in charge today. Today Danny is our senior vice president of operations. With purchasing being one of many of his responsibilities. He is extremely competitive and welcomes a challenge. Danny possesses a special kind of energy and commitment that every employer wishes their entire team had. His work ethic is second to none. I wish I could clone Danny. Thank you, Danny, for all you do to help make all of us successful.

Danny & Dana Hanks in Playa Del Carmen attending a nice company getaway

The next person I would like to acknowledge in this gratitude post is Heather McKeon, our chief marketing officer for the company. Heather joined us shortly after we opened the Gringo’s in La Porte in November 1996 as a hostess. In 2000, I was looking for someone to head up marketing at our new corporate offices in La Porte when Joel Perkins, my franchise partner who’d just opened the Fuqua location, mentioned to me that Heather had finished her marketing degree and would be excellent for this new position. I asked Heather to consider the position and she accepted. This move created a new level of talent and momentum for our corporate team. Heather eats, sleeps and breathes the Gringo’s and Jimmy Changas brands. Our company is extremely fortunate to have Heather in this role. She is one of the best multitaskers I have ever witnessed. She is so passionate about our brands that I’m sure a lot of people probably see her face before mine whenever Gringo’s Tex Mex comes up in a conversation. I rely on Heather tremendously and she always delivers excellence. Heather is constantly educating herself; always trying to be a student of business. She is not shy about being candid and leads her marketing team by example. Thank you, Heather, for everything.

Heather and I along with our executive team having dinner at Carbone in Las Vegas

I am so proud of John, Danny, and Heather. I could not have the peace of mind that I do if it were not for them by my side. We truly are greater as a whole than the sum of our parts when it comes to the success of our company. I am eternally grateful that all of them have given the company what I call the prime years of their life. It does not go unnoticed by me. Thank you, John. Thank you, Danny. And thank you, Heather. I appreciate each one of you more than you will ever know.

For November, I want to take this opportunity to recognize the brave men and women who serve in our military as well as a very special team member, which is the COO of our company and a great personal friend, Jonathan Kim.

I have a lot of respect for our veterans. I consider the time they serve our country to be such an honorable commitment. How they’re able to be away from their families for long periods of time is beyond me. Many of our veterans complete their service and return home to normalcy. Others, unfortunately, will have experienced things that most of us will never have to, and because of it, will experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Because of the struggle with PTSD that some of our veterans face, our nation currently loses 20 to 22 veterans a day to suicide. This is unacceptable in my opinion. Since 2008 through 2017 our nation has lost more than 60,000 veterans to suicide, more than were killed in combat during the entire Vietnam war. Let that number sink in for a moment.

Back in 2014, I was asked by my good friend, The Czar of Talk Radio, Michael Berry, to serve on the board of directors at Camp Hope, where he serves as the national spokesperson for the organization. Camp Hope (PTSD Foundation of America) provides interim housing for our combat veterans suffering from combat-related PTSD. I consider it an honor to have the opportunity to give back to our heroes who’ve already given so much to our nation. Camp Hope was founded in May 2012 by businessman, Gene Birdwell, of Birdwell Construction. Camp Hope is run by an incredible and dedicated staff. Executive Director David Maulsby, and his team of counselors and volunteers, do an outstanding job of creating a sanctuary for any veteran in need of help. Camp Hope’s staff is a unique team of combat veterans and pastoral staff who are trained in working with victims of trauma and post-traumatic stress in a caring and positive environment.

When I first got involved with Camp Hope one of the first things I noticed was the residents didn’t have a “real” gym to work out in. There was a very small, closet-like area, inside the mess hall that was filled with a lot of donated home gym equipment. When I saw this I knew our veterans deserved something much better. I asked the board of directors to allocate space inside a new building being constructed next door to the mess hall so that Gringo’s and Jimmy Changas could help facilitate a new state-of-the-art gym for the residents of Camp Hope.

This is where Jonathan Kim comes into the picture, and why I wanted to include him in my gratitude post along with our veterans. There’s a saying I heard once – If you want something done quickly, then find the busiest person you know and they’ll get it done! Jonathan began immediately reaching out to many of our vendors; Sysco Foodservice, U.S. Foods, Ben E. Keith, Houston Avocado, Martin Food Service, and many others, asking them to consider making a small contribution to the gym project at Camp Hope. Within hours Jonathan was able to raise over $60,000 which allowed us to equip the entire gym with all brand new Cybex equipment. During a BBQ Cook-off fundraiser at Camp Hope we held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the gym and surprised Jonathan by unveiling the name “The Jonathan Kim Gym”. He was extremely touched by this recognition.

The next story I’m going to share about Jonathan will illustrate not only his love for our Veterans, but also his focus and determination for excellence, no matter what the challenge he is facing. In December 2017, Jonathan and I were at the office talking about a book I had just finished reading called – Living With A Seal – by Jesse Itzler, owner of the Atlanta Hawks and husband of Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. The Seal turned out to be an ultra-marathoner by the name of David Goggins hired by Jesse to train him like a seal for 31 days. In 2013 David Goggins set a Guinness World Record when he completed 4,030 pullups in 17 hours. Because Jonathan works out regularly, and he is always up for a challenge, I asked him how many pull-ups did he think he could do in one day? While he was thinking about it I mentioned that we (We! Haha!) could create a fundraiser out of this challenge for Camp Hope and call it Pull-Ups for a Purpose. That was all I had to say, he was in.  

Jonathan decided his goal would be to complete 2,000 pull-ups, and he would do it on Memorial Day 2018 inside the Jonathan Kim Gym at Camp Hope. Starting in January 2018 Jonathan began his training both physically and mentally, in order to prepare himself for this incredible feat. His training over the next 5 months was like watching a mad man on a mission, his workouts lasted hours.

On Memorial Day 2018, Jonathan and his support team, led by John Fernandez, arrived at Camp Hope early in the morning to begin the 10 plus hour Pull-Up for a Purpose challenge. His plan consisted of (4) pull-ups per minute for 60 minutes straight, rest for 15 minutes, and then repeat. Needless to say the veterans at Camp Hope were there to witness this incredible feat and as the day went on more and more people gathered to watch. Things were going according to plan until pull-up number 600, when he started to feel symptoms of dehydration causing his muscles to cramp up. He attributed this to eating a lot of crawfish the night before!  He was so determined to finish what he started that he was not going to let that stop him. Between each set, he would have to apply ice and have his arms massaged. The fatigue Jonathan was experiencing was very obvious towards the end of his challenge. Everyone in the room could tell that he was in severe pain. At around pull-up number 1,842 I made the decision to step in and tell Jonathan that he did it, that he had accomplished the challenge.

I had never before in my life witnessed someone so determined to finish what they set out to do, and who was not going to quit, no matter what. Jonathan could have easily been a Navy Seal. Jonathan was disappointed in himself that he didn’t complete his goal of 2000 pull-ups. Several of the residents at Camp Hope were so impressed that Jonathan would do this for them, that without a word being spoken several veterans stepped up and took turns to finish the remaining 158 pull-ups, reaching Jonathan’s goal of 2000. When Jonathan saw what the veterans had just done it gave him the strength to do one more pull-up to complete the challenge at 2001 pull-ups. Everyone in attendance that day, who witnessed this incredible exhibition of grit and determination, was so touched that there was not a dry eye in the gym. Jonathan Kim’s effort helped raise over $106,000 dollars for our veterans at Camp Hope, and more importantly, helped bring awareness to our community that help is available for our veterans suffering from PTSD.

One of my favorite movie scenes is from a movie that came out the same year Gringo’s opened for business in 1993 called Schindler’s List. The movie is about a very wealthy German industrialist, Oscar Schindler, who would bribe German officers by allowing over 1200 Jews to work in his factory, thereby saving their lives by preventing them from going to the concentration camps during WWII. The scene that made an impact on me was the one at the very end of the movie when Oscar Schindler was about to leave the city because of the allied forces closing in and the war was coming to an end. With his car loaded down with whatever worldly possessions he could fit in it, he began to say goodbye to many of the Jews that worked for him. One of the workers walked up to Oscar and presented him with a ring and on the inside of it were the words written in Hebrew – For whoever saves one life, saves the world entire. At that moment, Oscar Schindler has a moment of realization; although he had saved many lives from the concentration camps, his riches could have saved even more.

Every one of us can do our small part to help our veterans dealing with PTSD. If Camp Hope is able to save a soldier from taking his own life, then think about the future generations it has also saved. I’m eternally grateful for our veterans who have served our country. I am also extremely grateful that Jonathan joined our leadership team in June of 2000. He is not only my right-hand man, but he is also my piece of mind. I did promise Jonathan I would never again challenge him to perform another insane feat because I know if I did, he would do it, especially if it were to help our veterans.

If you are a veteran or know a veteran who’s exhibiting symptoms of PTSD, please call Camp Hope’s 24-hour hotline 1-877-717-PTSD.

For my October 2019 gratitude post, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to every person who has ever dined at one of our restaurants over the last 26 years. Anytime I drive through one of our parking lots full of cars, or walk through our kitchens and see all the food being prepared during a busy shift, I cannot help but be overcome with gratitude. You, the customer, are the only reason why we exist. You have given our company a real sense of purpose beyond simply making a profit. Without your support, we are nothing more than a collection of empty buildings.    

Many of you already know the story of how Gringo’s Tex-Mex got started, but allow me to share some of it again for those who are not familiar with it. As many times as I’ve told this story, I never get tired of repeating it simply because I never want to forget it. It was on January 11, 1993, at 11 am that I walked from the kitchen to the dining room to pull the string on the neon “open” sign for the very first time and officially open the first Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen in Pearland, Texas. As I stood in front of the dining room window facing the empty parking lot, I waited patiently for that very first car to pull in and give our food a try, and I had good reason to hope one would. In 1981 our family opened an El Toro Restaurant in this building and closed it six years later. As a matter of fact, besides El Toro closing down, this building had already been home to three other failed restaurants, first as Gregory’s Steakhouse, then as Old Galveston Seafood Restaurant, and finally as Mangefico’s Italian Restaurant. Truth be told, I did not want to open this restaurant but felt I had no other choice. Since our family still owned the property, we had a monthly obligation to Pearland State Bank in the amount of $4,852.10, an extremely difficult payment to make during that time, especially since it was just sitting there empty. My father attempted to sell the property, listing it with a local commercial real estate broker, but was unsuccessful in finding another restaurateur willing to take the risk in that building. To be quite honest with you, I didn’t blame them at all.

Russell Ybarra turning on the “Open” Sign at Pearland “The Original” on the 25th Anniversary

When the first car pulled into the parking lot to dine with us, there was a real feeling of appreciation that came over me, one that is difficult to describe in words. Up to this point in my life, I had failed at almost everything I attempted, and opening this restaurant was probably going to be the next one on my long list of failures. The difference this time was that I had a paradigm shift in that I was no longer going to focus on making money, but instead, I was going to focus on making the very best product I knew how to make and offer it at the absolute best price possible. After all, I had nothing else to fall back on. I was a terrible student in school and after graduating from high school, if you want to call it that college was not even a consideration. To add to my lack of education, I got married at 18 years old, had two children by the time I was 25, lost my first house to foreclosure at 26, and at age 27 I returned a 1984 Ford Bronco to the dealership where I had purchased it because I could no longer afford the $420.91 payment. I’m not sure why, but I can always remember the amounts that were difficult to make. I failed at selling sports cars. I sold satellite dishes and failed at that too. I even opened a Mexican restaurant on Nasa Rd 1 in the old Eberado’s location in 1989, and it too failed. Not to mention, the last two El Toro restaurants our family had opened, one located on I-10 @ Mercury Dr. in Houston and the other here in Pearland, in the building I was about to attempt to open, one more time, under the new name Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen, had also failed.

Pearland “The Original” – 1992

Pearland “The Original” – 1993

In the mid-’80s, times were very tough. I was working at the El Toro offices in Baytown and was responsible for cutting checks to our vendors. We were so far behind on paying bills that I can remember being so overwhelmed at seeing a huge stack of overdue invoices that I simply picked up the stack and threw it in the trash can. I knew our vendors would soon contact us to let us know how much we still owed them.

We were also not able to pay our property taxes on time. We would find ourselves so far behind that we’d have to work out a payment plan with the various taxing authorities. This was also very expensive because there would be additional penalties and interest added to the base tax amount. Failure began to feel very normal to me, and it had a very bad taste. One that I will not soon forget, nor do I want to taste ever again, so long as I live. 

There’s a scene from a 70’s sitcom called “The Jeffersons” that I can definitely relate with. The Jeffersons show was about a very successful African-American businessman, George Jefferson, who owned a chain of dry cleaners throughout the New York City area. While Mr. Jefferson was visiting the first location he opened in Queens, he observed an elderly lady picking up her dry cleaning. The situation became awkward for Mr. Jefferson when he noticed this customer fumbling through her purse, looking for her money to pay for her dry cleaning. After a few awkward seconds went by Mr. Jefferson stepped in, apparently recognizing this customer, he said, “Mrs. Jones, that’s ok. Don’t you worry about it, you can pay us the next time you come in.” As the elderly lady takes her dry cleaning and leaves, the young cashier behind the counter turns to Mr. Jefferson and says, “Mr. Jefferson, you know she does this to us all the time.” To which Mr. Jefferson responded, “Yes, I know. But she was my very first customer when I opened my business many years ago.” 

Today, we employ 2,500 team members and serve thousands of meals each week at our 13 Gringo’s and 4 Jimmy Changas locations, plus Burger Libre, The Lunch Box, and Bullritos locations in La Porte. We have been able to make a positive impact on the communities where our restaurants are located. I can positively say that none of this would have been possible if it were not for your support. So, from the bottom of my heart – THANK YOU.

For July, I am profiling another special person who has made a significant impact on my life & success — my franchise partner and best friend, Mr. Joel Perkins.

Joel supervising a remodel at “The Original” in 1998

I firmly believe if you want to be the best at something, then you must go out and find the best who are already doing it, mimic them, while simultaneously applying your own unique point of differences. Fortunately for me, in this situation, I didn’t have to go very far to find one of the best restaurant chains in America, located right here in Houston, I am referencing Pappas Restaurants®. Because I have always admired their high level of standards and operations, I always told myself if I had any chance of being anything like them as a restaurant operator, then I had two choices: 1) work for them and learn everything I possibly can or 2)  hire someone who worked for them; I chose the latter.

In the early ’90s, my wife, Monica, was a kindergarten teacher at Faith Christian Academy in Pasadena. One of her students, a girl named Lindsey Perkins, was very proud of her daddy and where he worked. She would go to class and on occasion announce to Monica that her daddy was the General Manager of the Pappasitos located in Webster. So, of course, Monica would come home and remind me that one of her students’ father was the GM of Pappasitos. I stored this information in the back of my mind.

When the development of the second Gringo’s in La Porte began in 1995, I discovered that Joel was no longer with Pappasitos, and he had moved on to help open the new Kemah Cantina; now operating as the Aquarium Restaurant. My family’s tortilla company, El Matador, just so happened to sell tortillas to the Kemah Cantina. As Gringo’s La Porte was getting closer to completion, I asked my cousin, Chuck Rivera, who worked for El Matador to please pass on to Joel that I was looking for a GM to help me open the new Gringo’s. Joel contacted me almost immediately, and we met several times over the next five months. Truth be told, I would have hired him after the first interview; however, my only issue was I did not have the money to pay him. Keep in mind, in early 1996, I only had the one Gringo’s location in Pearland. I continued to meet with Joel, while at the same time, delaying a job offer until we were closer to opening. Joel joined the Gringo’s team in May of 1996.

What I did not know, when I was interviewing Joel, was that he did not want to leave Pappasitos. He parted ways because he had been demoted from GM, relocated to another location on the north side of town and his salary was cut by sixty percent. To compound his dire financial situation, his wife, Jamie, was no longer working as an executive secretary and their 4th daughter, Shelby, was just born.  

Joel helped me open the Gringo’s in La Porte on July 2, 1996, and in assembling his management team, he hired several incredible individuals who are still a part of Gringo’s family today. To name a few: Franchise Partner, Kevin Carroll; Kitchen Manager Extraordinaire, Francisco Rodriguez; Sr. VP of Operations, Danny Hanks; Chief Marketing Officer, Heather McKeon; Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Kim; and I’m sure the list goes on.

Opening Day at Gringo’s La Porte

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man strengthens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

Joel went on to help me open our 3rd Gringo’s in Texas City on August 5, 1999, and a few months later received the opportunity to franchise his own Gringo’s. Once again, through my cousin Chuck, we learned the owner of My Amigos, Jesse DeLeon, was selling his restaurant on the Gulf Freeway at Fuqua. Joel and I visited the restaurant as customers on Thursday, April 17, at around 7PM, and it was very slow. As we walked around the restaurant, both of us felt we could easily convert it to a Gringo’s at a minimal cost. A few days later, on May 1, we made a deal with Jesse to purchase his business and assume the lease. I personally financed the entire project for Joel to show my appreciation for him joining our team four years prior. Gringo’s Fuqua, on the Gulf Freeway, opened for business nineteen years ago this month, July 24, 2000. It has been one of our best deals ever, and also one of our most profitable units.

Joel and I with our commercial real estate broker, Hugh Ruggles

Back when I was interviewing Joel, and putting him off until I could afford to pay him, he must have been getting a little concerned and decided to give me his best line in an attempt to convince me to hire him. He told me, “Russell if you hire me, I will run that restaurant as if I owned it myself.” Those words were very prophetic. After Joel opened Fuqua in 2000, he has gone on to open four more Gringos locations: Champions in ’06, Cypress in ’10, Spring in ’13, and The Woodlands in ’18.

I appreciate my relationship with Joel for many reasons besides just the obvious; I appreciate his faith in God and his love for his family. Joel is a righteous man, but he doesn’t wear his faith on his sleeve. He exhibits all the qualities every one of us should strive to be in our own personal and work life. I believe I speak for the both of us when I say, we are equally grateful our lives intersected when they did, and both better for it. Furthermore, I know for a fact that Joel is very thankful he has always lived his life in such a way that made his daughter, Lindsey, proud enough to tell her kindergarten teacher, “My daddy is the General Manager of Pappasitos.”

Joel and Francisco Rodriguez

For June, I would like to take this opportunity to profile two individuals instead of one because of how they impacted my view on the importance of quality and hard work. I have a tremendous amount of gratitude because of how these two qualities helped shape the philosophy behind Gringo’s and Jimmy Changas.

The first person I consider myself extremely lucky to have crossed paths with is Juan Martinez, aka Mr. John, the executive chef for El Toro Restaurants. My father, Eugene, hired Mr. John when he opened his first restaurant in the early, and he was directly responsible for developing every single one of the El Toro recipes, some of which are the same ones that Gringo’s and Jimmy Changas’ recipes are modeled after. Mr. John’s keen palate, as well as his desire to use only the highest quality ingredients available, is something that I consider myself extremely fortunate to have witnessed firsthand. Mr. John’s duties included purchasing ingredients for the El Toro commissary, and he would always spec the most expensive cheeses for their enchiladas and chile con queso, and he’d also spec the absolute best cooking oil that Kraft Foodservice offered at the time. Mr. John believed in processing everything from scratch at the El Toro central kitchen in Baytown. Some of the items that they prepared for the restaurants included hot sauce, refried beans, beef picadillo, chile con queso and enchilada gravy for which Mr. John would only use the Gebhardt brand chili powder, the gold standard of chili powders. He was also a master at large batch cooking using two 60-gallon Groen steam kettles to process most items. He believed in grinding their own beef to use for their taco meat, cutting their own steaks, and making tamales every Saturday morning. I can remember as a young 10-year-old kid going with my father to the commissary on Saturday mornings to help make tamales so I could earn some spending money for the week. I’d always work approximately 5 hours and was paid the federal minimum wage of $2.10 per hour. I can also remember calculating in my mind, as I was pulling the fresh tamales off the conveyor, how much pay I would receive at the end of the shift.

After graduating from high school, I went to work at the El Toro in La Porte where I earned my M.B.A. (Mop.Bucket.Attendant.). Then in the early 80’s when the Houston economy was struggling, I convinced my father and Mr. John to begin buying lower priced, lower quality ingredients in an attempt to try and save the company money. This ended up being a huge mistake, and the effects were felt almost immediately with an increase in guest complaints and declining sales. We obviously had to go back to purchasing the higher quality and more expensive ingredients. And even today, my philosophy on the ingredients we purchase at Gringo’s and Jimmy Changas is very simple, but I believe to be the most important one any restaurateur can have if they want to succeed, and it is this – “If I won’t eat it, I won’t serve it.” I owe that one important philosophy to Mr. John.

Another person that I want to recognize with gratitude is Mr. John’s protege, Hugo Olvera, aka Dos Caballos (because he does the work of two men). Punctual, loyal, honest, dependable, are just a few of the words that describe Hugo. When I made the decision to open “The Original” Gringo’s in Pearland in 1993, in a building that had been previously four failed restaurants, I knew that the very first and probably the most important person I needed to hire was Hugo. Hugo is one of the hardest working individuals I have ever met. I had the privilege of working with Hugo for a brief period in the mid-’80s at the El Toro on Decker Drive in Baytown, so I was very familiar with his work ethic. In the 26 years, Hugo has worked with me, he has never missed a day of work nor has he ever been late. Hugo has a company issued EZ Tag, and when he used to live in Channelview, he would have to cross over the Beltway 8 toll bridge on his way to work. The times at which he would pass over the Houston Ship Channel each morning were ALWAYS within a 5-minute window. Coincidentally enough, even as I type this story of gratitude, in just a few hours Hugo and his wife Sarah will be crossing the Atlantic ocean in Business Class after spending nearly two weeks in Italy and France on an Abercrombie & Kent tour. It was my gift to Hugo and Sarah as an expression of my appreciation and gratitude for Hugo’s many years of dedicated service.

Here is another reason why I wanted to recognize both Mr. John and Hugo in the same month of gratitude. Above the El Toro commissary were a couple of apartments where Mr. John and Hugo lived. On one summer evening in 1983, Mr. John began suffering a heart attack in his apartment. Hugo came to his aid and quickly put him in his truck and rushed him to Methodist Hospital on Decker Dr. in Baytown. Mr. John never made it into the hospital, he passed away in Hugo’s arms as he was attempting to help him out of the truck.

Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. The gratitude I have for both Mr. John and Hugo Olvera is immense because I often wonder how my life would have been shaped had our lives never intersected. It would have been much different, I’m sure. I want to sincerely thank both of them from the bottom of my heart for being an important part of my life.