From Mama Ninfa's kitchen to a Houston institution.
The Laurenzo family introduced fajitas to full-service dining. Three generations later, El Tiempo carries that legacy forward with a premium Tex-Mex experience Houstonians line up for.
A family that changed how America eats Tex-Mex.
In 1973, Ninfa Laurenzo sold the family's tortilla business, Rio Grande Food Products, to open a different kind of Mexican restaurant on Navigation Boulevard. She was the first to serve grilled skirt steak in handmade flour tortillas in a full-service setting. She called them tacos al carbón. The country came to know them as fajitas, and Houston came to know her as Mama Ninfa.
Her eldest son, Roland, helped run the restaurant and grew Ninfa's into 43 locations across Texas and Louisiana by 1993. In April 1998, Roland and his son Domenic opened the first El Tiempo Cantina on Richmond Avenue in Greenway Plaza, raising traditional Tex-Mex to a more upscale level of food, drink, service and atmosphere.
Every El Tiempo still follows the family's guiding rule: serve and treat each guest as you would your grandmother on her 80th birthday.
Financial highlights
Source: Private Placement Memorandum, October 2026Restaurant industry sales fell 3% in 2025, according to the National Restaurant Association. Rather than raise menu prices further, El Tiempo cut costs internally and drove traffic with targeted social marketing, rewards cards, gift certificates and new specials like Margarita Mondays and Taco Tuesdays, backed by TV, radio and social campaigns and the trademarked “Fajitas & Ritas” slogan. The 2026 EBITDA pace is a projection based on results through August and is not guaranteed.
What sets the business apart
The family that invented the category
The Laurenzos pioneered restaurant fajitas and have spent nearly three-quarters of a century in the business.
Premium positioning
Steakhouse-quality beef and seafood at prices below high-end steakhouses. Nearly half of guests take food home.
Made from scratch, every day
Tortillas, sauces, soups and desserts are made in-house. Fajitas arrive on the anafre, a mesquite-fired grill custom-built in Nuevo León, Mexico.
Restaurants designed as destinations
4,500–7,500 sq ft buildings with handcrafted Mexican woodwork, wagon-wheel chandeliers and stand-up "burro" bars for waiting guests.
Disciplined operations
A weighted food-cost index, weekly supplier price comparisons, a 28-day cost-of-sales tracker and sales-based scheduling protect margins.
A two-part growth plan
First, build profitability at the three most recently built restaurants by raising the skill of every team in food, beverage, service and cleanliness. Second, take the brand to new markets through the Franchise Growth Program, partnering with experienced multi-unit operators in full-service and fast-casual formats.
A fiesta atmosphere guests return for.
Families celebrating milestones, couples marking anniversaries and friends at happy hour all share the same thing: generous plates, renowned margaritas and service in the Laurenzo tradition.
Five decades of steady growth
- 1973Mama Ninfa opens on Navigation Boulevard and puts fajitas on the map.
- 1993Roland grows Ninfa's to 43 restaurants across Texas and Louisiana.
- 1998The first El Tiempo Cantina opens on Richmond Avenue.
- 2004–15Washington, Vintage Park, Navigation, Gessner and Annex open, plus the Taqueria and Laurenzo's Prime Rib.
- 2018–19290 and Stafford open.
- 2022Fry Road opens in Katy, and the Astros ballpark location debuts.
- 2023–24Galleria opens, and NRG Stadium, the Houston Rodeo and Shell Energy Stadium join the lineup.
- 2025–26South Loop opens in 2025, and Webster reopens under Laurenzo family ownership in November 2026, bringing the group to 14 company-owned restaurants.
Voted Houston's best, year after year.
A Houston Chronicle Best of the Best winner every year since 2020, and Best Tex-Mex Restaurant every year from 2022 through 2026, as voted by Houston residents. Recent national recognition includes Travel Magazine, LA Weekly and Southern Living. In 2026 the competition offered fewer categories.
In the press
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