Rick Fraser grew up in his family’s restaurant and liquor businesses.
The proof? There’s still a baby picture of him drinking a bottle on the checkout counter at the family’s Rod’s Plaza Beverage liquor store in Orange.
“I was born in the business,” Fraser said. “I really liked it.”
A lot has changed since Fraser’s dad, Rod, took money he got from raising crops to buy the liquor store in 1949. He eventually expanded it into a chain of 21 liquor stores in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
The family has all but left the liquor business,it still runs the store in Orange,and now focuses on restaurants under the names of Don Jos & #233; Mexican Cafe, Ricardo’s and Rodrigo’s Mexican Grill.
Fraser and his family were honored with the large business award at the annual Family Owned Business luncheon put on by the Business Journal and California State University, Fullerton’s Family Business Council. The event was held Nov. 17 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
The company’s 8,000-square-foot headquarters in Orange has seven workers. The company officially is known as Rod Fraser Enterprises Inc.
Fraser, who is president, inherited the business in 1998 with his siblings. But it was at Aliso Viejo-based Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc. where Fraser got his first taste for the restaurant business some three decades ago.
His dad was a franchisee for Marie Callender, running several restaurants. Fraser split his time between those restaurants and the liquor stores.
In 1972, the family branched into Mexican food in a roundabout way.
Fraser said he used to eat at the original Don Jos & #233; restaurant in Huntington Beach after work. And he brought his dad with him a few times.
They got to know the owner, Joseph Morjoseph, and eventually struck a deal to open more Don Jos & #233; Mexican restaurants. Morjoseph wanted royalties, and the Frasers agreed to own and run them.
The family began focusing on Mexican restaurants and eventually cut back its involvement with Marie Callender, though it maintains a stake in one restaurant in Rancho Mirage.
Don Jos & #233; is at the heart of the company’s operations. There are 10 of them, including ones in Huntington Beach, Anaheim Hills, Fullerton and Laguna Hills.
The company also runs a Ricardo’s restaurant in Orange, which it remodeled in 1986, and a Rodrigo’s restaurant in Corona.
There’s more on tap.
The company recently signed a deal to open a restaurant in Temecula. It plans to open up to five more in the next five years, Fraser said. The new restaurants will take the Rodrigo’s name.
Rodrigo’s mixes an upbeat, modern look with traditional colors from Mexico, said Cheryl Coulter, Fraser’s sister and the company’s chief financial officer.
“We’ve had success with Don Jos & #233; and wanted to step it up a level,” she said.
Rodrigo’s takes its name from Fraser’s dad, a World War II pilot who died in 1981 when his plane crashed on a return trip from a Don Jos & #233; restaurant in Las Vegas. Fraser’s brother-in-law also was killed in the accident.
Fraser and his mother, Pat, streamlined operations to keep the business going. At the time, Don Jos & #233; had some 20 restaurants and closed about five, Coulter said.
Pat died in 1998, leaving the business to Fraser and his siblings. The six family members are directors of the company.
The family has continued to upgrade the restaurants and menus over the years. There are plans to remodel some older Don Jos & #233; locations starting in January.
The company has weathered some challenges, such as rising operational costs in California and economic downturns.
“You open a business in California and the first person through the front door is the government,” Fraser said. “They say, ‘I’ll take this and that.’ There are a lot of restaurant chains that don’t want to have anything to do with California.”
But Fraser and his family have stuck with the state for decades. In the 1960s, his dad, who had a helicopter pad near his Orange home, owned several helicopters that were used to build the original Palm Springs tramway.
Generations of Frasers graduated from Orange High School. And generations of the family continue to work at the company. Some 25 cousins have worked at Don Jos & #233; restaurants during high school and college.
Some now are working their way up in the management ranks at the restaurants and at the corporate office. Fraser’s wife, Linda, handles interior design at the restaurants.
“It’s a family business,” Fraser said. “All of our employees have access to me. They know me and can talk to me.”
Some bartenders and servers have worked at Don Jos & #233; restaurants for more than 30 years, he said.
“I talk to other people in the business and they say their biggest problem is turnover,” Fraser said. “We don’t have that problem. Our employees are the backbone of our business.”
The chain faces competition from higher-end Mexican restaurant chains, such as El Torito Restaurants and fast-food chain Baja Fresh Mexican Grill.
Just as his dad before him, Fraser keeps a hand in other business ventures, including cranberry farming.
Fraser said his cousin introduced him to the idea in 1990. The cousin grew cranberries in Oregon for Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. and was looking to sell some of his farms.
Fraser initially bought four acres and now owns more than 80.
Fraser said he’s been happy with how the family business has grown. When he hits rough patches: “You just have to fight your way through it.”
