n the restaurant business since 1964, Jose Romo moved to Ardmore in 1988 from Tulsa where he worked as a banquet chef at the Hilton and a breakfast cook at the Embassy Suites at the same time.
His cousin, owned Polo's Restaurant chain and hired him to manage the Ardmore location. He worked from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. getting the new restaurant up and running. Since he wanted to spend time with his children and his schedule left little free time, he enlisted his entire family into the restaurant business.

"My children stood on boxes to roll enchiladas. All six of them worked at one time or another. It allowed me to spend time with them and kept them off the streets," said Jose. "They earned their own money for college."

In 2001, Jose decided he could meet a market niche for the downtown area. He opened Casa Romo, his own restaurant, convenient to business people working downtown.

      With a daily buffet which varies a little each day, customers can eat quickly on a short lunch break.

Although some of the family has grown up, two of Jose's children work at Casa Romo. Hector works full-time and Nancy works after school. Along with the children, Jose's wife, Maria, and mother-in-law round out the family business.

The company also hires employees with their total employee count reaching 13. Jose Romo is bilingual and has worked very hard to establish a relationship with his customers.

"Many of our customers have become close friends," says Romo. "Word of mouth is our best advertising. Customers come back for the enchiladas and fajitas. No one has opened a large restaurant in the downtown area in the last 12 years. We recognized a need." "Ardmore has very friendly people and our children received a good education at Plainview," says Jose.

A hard-working business entrepreneur with faith in Ardmore is why Jose Romo is an Ardmore Star!