Margarita's Amigos

Dave Quirarte + Ron Abarca + Larry Gromer; founded 1985 on Southwest Boulevard after the founders cooked burritos for General Motors co-workers; 5 KC-metro locations; 41+ years of operation; Ron Abarca died 2019.

Description

Margarita’s Amigos was founded in 1985 by Dave Quirarte and Ron Abarca, childhood friends who worked the night shift at General Motors in Kansas City. The origin story is textbook: the two cooked burritos for their GM co-workers after their shifts; 50 burritos sold out on day one; by the end of the first month they were selling 300/day; the Margarita’s Amigos Southwest Boulevard location opened in October 1985.¹

After a Kansas City Star article in 1986 publicly documented the operation’s early success, the business grew rapidly. Larry Gromer joined the ownership team in 1991.¹ Ron Abarca passed away in 2019, marking a significant ownership transition; Dave Quirarte and Larry Gromer continue.

The operation today runs 5 locations across the KC metro: Southwest Boulevard (original) + Gladstone (NKC) + Lenexa (Johnson County) + Liberty (Clay County) + Martin City. Each location maintains the Margarita’s-Amigos-house style + family-tier hospitality.

Ownership and history

Year	Event
Pre-1985	Dave Quirarte + Ron Abarca childhood friends; both work night shift at GM Kansas City
1985	Begin cooking burritos for GM co-workers; 50/day → 300/day by end of first month
October 1985	First Margarita’s Amigos location opens on Southwest Boulevard
1986	Kansas City Star article publicly documents the operation’s success
1991	Larry Gromer joins Dave + Ron in ownership
2019	Ron Abarca passes away
Subsequent years	Expansion to current 5-location footprint across KC metro

Tier classification

Tier 1 — Multi-decade KC family-tier operation; co-founder + multi-location expansion.

Criterion match (per Best-Mexican-In-KC-Spring-2027-Methodology-Workbook “KC-resident family operation, 5+ year”): -Family-tier operation across 41 years (origin story is family-tier; subsequent multi-location expansion maintained family-tier character) -KC-resident principals continuously (Quirarte + Abarca + Gromer all KC-resident) -Multi-location all under single ownership group -Independent (not chain; not corporate)

• ⚠ Multi-location expansion may make this less Westside-Cornerstone-tier than Manny’s; Honorable Mention placement reflects this nuance — strong Mexican operator without being the heritage anchor

Sources

Verification

• Level: Verified(Layer 2)
• Independence: Multiple sources covering founding + 30-year milestone + location list
• High confidence: founding story + co-founders + 5-location footprint + Abarca death
• Outstanding: specific addresses for each of 5 locations; current generation of operator-family members beyond the named principals

Footnotes

1. Margarita’s Amigos — official About + Story pages. https://www.margaritasamigos.com/ + https://www.margaritasamigos.com/about + https://margaritasmexicansrestaurant.com/about. Source asserts: 1985 founding; Dave Quirarte + Ron Abarca; childhood friends; GM night-shift co-workers; 50 burritos day one → 300/day end of first month; October 1985 Southwest Blvd opening; 1986 KC Star article; 1991 Larry Gromer joins; 2019 Ron Abarca death; 5 KC-metro locations. ↩ ↩²