The elevator carried Richard and Celia Acosta from the ground floor of the Thompson San Antonio Riverwalk Hotel to a rooftop lounge and bar. It lifted them above banks and businesses and 15-story buildings, above the grandest dreams they held as newlyweds in 1968.

When the elevator door opened, they stepped into The Moon’s Daughters, a dazzling 20th floor restaurant with floor to ceiling windows, indoor and outdoor seating and a breathtaking view of downtown.

Before them were several dozen guests awaiting their arrival, bartenders pouring drinks, tables holding a buffet of hot Tex-Mex and a duo playing soft, 70s music.

Gripping his walker, Richard worked his way through the crowd, accepting congratulations on his 57th wedding anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the first McDonald’s franchise that he and Celia opened in October 1975.

He took a microphone and the rooftop lounge fell silent. Heads bowed and eyes closed as Richard, 81, thanked God for a miracle. He once ran with gangs on the West Side. A high school counselor told him he was not college material. He left a job at Kelly Air Force Base to start a business but seven banks refused to give him a loan. 

Now here he stood on Sunday with his wife and five children, humbled by success.

The Acosta family owns 62 McDonald’s franchises across South Texas. They have 5,000 employees and a $155 million payroll. They’ve put employees through college, served their parishes, supported numerous charities and raised tens of thousands of dollars for scholarships and nonprofits.

“Lord, I thank you for everything you’ve done for us,” Richard prayed. Over the next three hours, it was time for guests to thank Richard and Celia for what they’ve done.

The San Antonio Independent School District took its turn on Wednesday. The SAISD Foundation honored Richard (Brackenridge High School, Class of ‘63) and three other school district alumni with Inspire Awards.


Celia and Richard Acosta pose for a photo Wednesday at the SAISD Foundation Inspire Awards ceremony at the Witte Museum. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

The climb to the top began in a crowded home in the barrio. Richard is the youngest of eight children. His parents separated when he was 1. Raised by a single mother, he found trouble on the streets. A seventh-grade math teacher pulled him aside in a hallway at Irving Middle School. 

The teacher warned him about gangs, encouraged him to play football and told him to apply himself in school. For the first time, Richard heard a man speak to him like a father to a son. 

A life turned. 

Ten years later, he met a striking brunette who’d been Homecoming Queen and Senior Class President at South San High School. After dating for two weeks, he proposed.

Richard and Celia Chavez married and had their first child, a daughter, a year later. At Celia’s urging, Richard enrolled at Our Lady of the Lake University, studied business during the day and worked at Kelly Air Force Base in the evenings. He graduated summa cum laude. 

Inspired by a professor, Richard inquired about buying a McDonald’s franchise. Unable to afford the purchase price, Richard decided to lease with an option to buy. They sold their house, moved in with Celia’s parents and emptied their savings but remained more than $30,000 short of the $50,000 required.

Rebuffed by several lending institutions, the Acostas’ secured the difference through the Small Business Administration and Frost Bank.

The first restaurant at Cypress and San Pedro did so well, Richard was named “Rookie of the Year” for the best franchise in Texas. At the company convention in 1976, McDonald’s chairman Ray Kroc told Richard, “I’m going to make you a millionaire.”

Hard times soon followed. The Acostas’ struggled, fell into debt and nearly went bankrupt. “They couldn’t buy food or make payroll and the city was about to shut the water off,” said son Carlos Acosta.

The couple went to church and asked God for help. The next day, a businessman gave Richard a loan for $300,000. “That’s how powerful prayer is,” Richard once told his alma mater, Our Lady of the Lake University. “You pray on a Sunday and you get an answer on Monday.”

Henry Cisneros cut the ribbon on the Acosta’s second McDonald’s franchise in 1986. Credit: Courtesy / Acosta family

Noemi Chávez Wallace, Celia’s younger sister, watched the Acostas’ overcome challenge after challenge. She witnessed faith and fervor during meetings in the office basement.

“I remember them praying before meetings, praying before making decisions and praying for blessings,” said Wallace, director of business insights who has worked for McDonald’s for 43 years. “Our family refers to some of their prayers as a never ending prayer.”

Richard and Celia exercised their option to buy after five years. They completed the purchase two years later. In 1986, the Acostas purchased their second franchise on General McMullen.

Then they bought a third and fourth franchise.

“We not only checked out the competition,” Wallace said. “We’d drive to the competition, sit in their parking lot, count their cars and count our cars. We’d see what they had on special and see what we had on special. We’d time their drive-thru and not let our drive-thru times be longer than theirs.”

When a Burger King opened near a franchise at Loop 410 and Old Pearsall Road, the Acosta’s went to battle and lowered their prices, offering 99 cent Happy Meals, 99 cent Big Macs and 99 cent breakfast items. “Let’s just say,” Wallace said, “that the Burger King didn’t last a year.”

To remain ahead of the local competition, Richard introduced new menu items. The Texas Burger, with lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayonnaise, was designed to compete with Whataburger. Richard also added hash browns, 50-piece chicken nuggets and a deluxe breakfast, a platter of hotcakes, eggs, sausage, hash browns and a biscuit.

The Texas Burger, renamed the Homestyle Burger, appeared on menus in Houston and Dallas and went national. The deluxe breakfast appeared on menus in Canada. Eventually, that version of the Homestyle Burger was discontinued but the hash browns, 50-piece nuggets and deluxe breakfast remain fixtures.

Henry B. Gonzales cut the ribbon on Richard and Celia Acosta’s first McDonald’s franchise on Oct. 7, 1975. Credit: Courtesy / Acosta family

An innovative spirit enabled Richard and Celia to open more franchises. Four of their five children joined the business full time – but only after they completed their college degrees.

“He was adamant that we wouldn’t get stuck behind a counter and work at the register,” said daughter Maria Acosta. “He told us, ‘You need an education.’”

Siblings Maria, Carlos, Celia and Luis all own McDonald’s franchises. The fifth sibling, Richard Acosta, Jr., is an investment banker.

The Acosta family shares its wealth. When COVID-19 forced the closure of restaurants, the Acostas decided to feed all their employees and the families of their employees at every franchise they owned. 

Every day, each employee was given a free meal before their shifts. When their shifts were completed, they were given two meals to take home to their families.

The kicker: The Acostas promised not to lay off a single employee.

“It was a family decision,” Maria said. “We knew it was God’s will to do that.” 

As guests mingled in the rooftop lounge, story after story was shared. There was the time Richard stopped on his way home to help put out a fire at a neighbor’s house. There was the time, just before closing, that the Acostas learned Hurricane Katrina victims were arriving hungry. So the staff stayed open and provided 300 meals.

This is what 50 years of marriage and 57 years of business has produced: a rooftop celebration, 20 stories up, of a couple whose impact can be felt as far as the eye can see.