From Little Money To Azteca Fame

J. Ramos, owner Azteca Restaurants

Accomplishment: Jose "Pepe" Ramos spoke no English and had little money when he came to Renton from Mexico in 1978, at the age of 28. Now, at 46, he owns Azteca Restaurants Enterprises, the largest chain of Mexican restaurants in the Seattle area, with gross revenues of more than $30 million. His 23rd Azetca restaurant opens today in Spokane, and he continues to scout new locations in Washington and Oregon.

Ramos grew up in Cuautla, Mexico, near Guadalajara. His formal schooling ended when he was 13. He came to the United States after helping out in his father's grocery store to work for his cousins, who owned Torero's Mexican restaurant in Renton. Ramos worked as a dishwasher days and as a laborer at Todd Shipyard in Seattle nights. He never studied English formally, but picked up the language as he went along.

In 1974, he put together $20,000 to open his own restaurant in Burien under the Torero's name. A friend invested $9,000; a cousin, $10,000; and he put in $1,000 of his own money. He got started without any bank loans. His cousin at Torero's signed for the equipment loans.

"We got the business started real fast; it was easy," Ramos says. "The name was established and there weren't many Mexican restaurants in the Seattle area, maybe 10 at the most."

Ramos bought out his cousin and friend by the time he had opened two more restaurants, in Kent and Ballard. He also changed the name to Azteca, a noun he says some Mexicans use to refer to themselves (as descendants of the Aztecs). Today there are 18 Aztecas in the Puget Sound area and three in Oregon, with a restaurant called Casa Ramos in Centralia. Ramos employs about 1,200 people and serves about 14,000 customers a day.

Quote: "I never planned to be this big," he says. "It just happened. You get surrounded by good people and they make you successful."

Advice: "The main thing is, you have to like to be in the restaurant business," Ramos says. "It takes a lot of your time. It's no eight-hour job; it's a 24-hour job. It's a lot of work."

The family has been a big help, and family members occupy major positions in the company. Ramos also credits his management team with part of the success, and the training given to his staff members such as waiters and hostesses.

"Service is the name of the game in all businesses, especially here in Seattle," he says. "Basically we tell our people to be friendly with customers. I like people. I know most everybody at the restaurants and I have a good time with everybody."

To newly arrived immigrants he advises working hard. And if you fail, he says, try again.

Setback: Ramos has lost two restaurants. One in Ballard, on which he had no insurance, burned down in 1978, when Ramos owned only four restaurants. Last year, he opened an Azteca in Toronto when some family members there asked him to help them out with a business. He closed it six months later because business was so bad. Part of the problem Ramos attributes to the high employee insurance taxes he had to pay the Canadian government.

Reported by Times South bureau business reporter John Stevens. Send your nominations for this feature to the Times. We need your name, the name of your nominee, along with their company and phone number and a brief description of how or why they are successful.