We are a family business started in 1975 by Richard and Celia Acosta. Richard and Celia Acosta both had to quit their good paying jobs at Kelly Air Force Base and take out their life savings. They sold their house and moved in with Celia Acosta’s parents. With a loan and all their money, they barely had enough to open their first McDonald’s. Everything they owned was tied up in the business.
With God’s guidance and a strong will to succeed, our company has seen a continued growth for over 38 years. We have since grown to 38 locations and employ over 1,500 employees. Our average tenure is 14 years. We pride ourselves on our people and treat everyone like family. Our employees are our greatest asset.
Richard Acosta was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He grew up in a single parent house hold, raised by his mother, brothers and sisters. Richard is the youngest of 8 children and grew up on the city’s Westside. He is very proud of the fact that he graduated from Brackenridge High School and is a Mighty Eagle. During his time in high school he was advised by a guidance counselor that he was not college material and should be an auto mechanic. During this time as he worked as a mechanic, friends of his started going to college and doing well. He realized that he had earned better grades then his friends during their time in high school. He felt it was God talking to him, to give college a try.
Richard soon enrolled in college and made all B’s in his first semester. This was a very important step in his life because he gained the confidence in himself that he knew he could succeed in college. While Richard was going to college the Vietnam War had started and he decided to join the United States Air Force to serve his country. While in the Air Force, Richard exceled in avionics. After finishing his service, he was offered a job at Kelly Air Force base as a civilian working in avionics. Richard stayed in the Air Force Reserves for 13 years. While working at Kelly AFB, Richard met his wife, Celia Chavez, who also worked at Kelly AFB. After two weeks of dating Richard proposed to Celia and one year later they were married. One year after being married, they had their first child Celia III. At the urging of his wife, Richard went back to school, worked nights and stayed in the Air Force Reserves while trying to be a new father. It took Richard 12 years from the 1st time he started college to the time he graduated. This is a testament of Richard’s perseverance and strong will to succeed. With God’s guidance, the support and insistence of his wife, Richard graduated with honors, Summa Cum Laude, from Our Lady of the Lake University.
Celia Chavez Acosta is a proud 9th generation Texan and grew up on the south side of San Antonio. She didn’t grow up rich but she definitely grew up in a house rich in love. She saw the many struggles her parents went through and she was determined to have a better life for herself. Her summers were spent working in the fields or helping her mother clean houses. Celia excelled in her studies and graduated High School with honors from South West High School. She began her career as an Administrative Assistant at Kelly Air force and she excelled at Kelly. Until the day she married she worked weekends part time at Sears to help her parents financially. Celia and Richard married in 1968; they have 5 children and 14 grandchildren. Richard and Celia decided to start a business. They took a chance, it was a gamble but they took their early retirement from Kelly Air Force, sold their home, their cars, and other personal belongings, they needed cash to invest into a McDonald’s Restaurant. After selling all of their possessions they didn’t have enough cash, they ended up getting a loan from SMBA. In the beginning they struggled to get the business started, as time progressed they began growing their business.
They insisted that their children receive an education before they could join the family business.
Their eldest daughter, Celia Acosta Jairala, graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in finance and completed her Master’s degree from UTSA. When she started with the company Celia and Richard owned 3 restaurants. The company continued to grow and excel. Together they grew the business from 3 to 9 McDonald’s restaurants.
Luis and Maria finished their education and joined the business. Luis is graduate from Texas A& M University, and completed his masters degree in Finance at UTSA. Maria graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio with a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. They went through extensive training to receive approval from McDonald’s corporation to became McDonald’s Franchisee.
Carlos began his career as a crew person and continue to work his way up into management when he had a calling to completed his schooling to become a McDonald’s Owner Operator.
We are a company that believes in giving back to our employees our employees are our most important part of our business. We live in San Antonio and love our community, giving back to our beautiful city and our community have always been our families top priorities. As a family we serve on several local boards, committees, and charities. We love our beautiful city of San Antonio and are continuously trying to stay involved and active within our community.