Fideo, a simple, but tasty Mexican comfort food dish, is a popular staple at Fort Worth’s Cafecito restaurant.
Served as a soup, cooked vermicelli noodles and spices are blended in a savory tomato broth that makes a satisfying meal. Cafecito’s version adds a signature pink quesadilla to the mix.
“It’s good classic comfort food,” said Gina Palma, general manager of the Mexican restaurant at 401 W. Magnolia Ave. in Fort Worth’s Near Southside. “Latino moms love it because it’s a good snack or meal when the kids are hungry. It is popular and a constant on our menu.”
The crowd-pleasing, economical appeal of fideo is driving the expansion of a Fort Worth-founded pasta brand after its acquisition by a Central Texas food company on Oct. 1.
Temple-based McLane Group, a privately held food distribution company chaired by former Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr., purchased the O.B. Macaroni Co., which began as the Fort Worth Macaroni Co. at its founding in 1899. Terms of the sale were not publicly disclosed.
Q&Q Pasta, an O.B. Macaroni item originally known as Quality and Quantity Pasta when it launched in 1910, markets its vermicelli pasta as “the original Mexican fideo.” The item is a top seller.
Frank J. Case III, the new Q&Q president who once worked for Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, said McLane Group plans to tell the story of fideo as it introduces the vermicelli pasta products into new markets.
“I’ve got to say that these two are the most iconic and just incredible brands as far as just a standalone that has their own legs,” Case told the Fort Worth Report. “The consumer passion for the Q&Q brand has been just incredible.”
The O.B. Macaroni Co., which started as the Fort Worth Macaroni Co. in 1899, was sold to Temple-based McLane Group, a global food service distributor, in October 2026. (Eric E. Garcia | Fort Worth Report)
When people learn about his new Q&Q role, Case said, it prompts them to tell him stories about eating fideo with their families.
“It literally unlocks such great memories for them,” Case said. “Stories of families and joy and parties, it’s just amazing. It sounds kind of hokey, but it’s very humbling. It’s just fun to be a part of something that has all the nostalgia and family history for some folks.”
Case said McLane Group plans “to go big and take the brand places that it has yet to be.”
McLane seeks to double Q&Q sales since there are still opportunities to introduce the brand in untapped parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and surrounding states, Case said.
Within its current distribution, customers are loyal to the brand, he said.
“On its own, it has a very solid, very consistent consumer pull,” Case said. “The consumer’s commitment and passion for the brand is very real. We want to do everything we can to complement the brand and bring it along. It has its own legs and we need to exercise it so we do it the right way and respect the history of it.”
He declined to talk about sales projections for the brand since the acquisition is just over a week old.
“There’s a lot of things to smooth out before we start our push,” Case said.
However, the marketing strategy will be simple: “Just let it do what it does,” Case said.
“There’s a lot of great stories out there,” he said. “But there’s still a lot of stories to be had. I think as we continue to move forward with the brand, we’ll introduce it to more and more people and create some more stories. … What we do in the long term is just accentuate those positives and find ways to create even more.”
Case said he would love to see a fideo festival — similar to a chili cookoff — reemerge to spotlight the benefits of the pasta brand.
Case said his wife, a San Antonio native, was familiar with the Q&Q brand but didn’t realize the nostalgia surrounding fideo dishes made with vermicelli pasta. Now fideo is part of their weekly home meals.
“We make at least one meal a week since the day we were introduced to it,” he said. “We’ve enjoyed it on our own with different recipes she’s come up with.”
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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