mexican buffet type buffet industry restaurant founded 1958 headquarters dallas texas 1 products tex mex and mexican american dishes services in store dining takeout and catering website www.panchosmexicanbuffetdfw.com pancho s mexican buffet was a chain of tex mex restaurants 1 5 as of 2015 in the united states . the bulk of the restaurants are in texas ; 1 a few restaurants are or were previously located in arizona new mexico oklahoma 1 louisiana 1 and mississippi . 2 pancho s main offering is an all you can eat buffet 3 though unlike many other such buffets additional food is brought by waitstaff rather than self served except for in the chain s super buffet locations . 4 pancho s also provides takeout and catering services . 1 in february 2012 panchos corporate had shut down operations . all corporate owned restaurants were closed phone lines were disconnected and the website was removed . the reasons behind it are unknown . 5 6 non corporate owned locations remain open . as of september 2014 14 franchise locations operate in texas oklahoma and louisiana . 7 8 contents 1 history 2 overview 3 fare 4 flagship location 5 references 6 external links history edit the first pancho s restaurant opened in el paso texas in 1958 . 1 2 9 the restaurant was founded by jesse arrambide jr. 9 who also owns los bandidos de carlos & mickey s restaurant . who learned how to make mexican dishes from his mother . 4 his experience in cooking in large quantities while serving on an american naval troopship during world war ii would contribute towards his concept of how to operate a buffet style restaurant . 4 after several years of operating his restaurant as a success arrambide turned his energy towards creating a pancho s restaurant chain . the company eventually relocated its corporate office from el paso to fort worth texas in 1966 . 2 in 2007 pancho s moved east again this time to dallas texas . since 1979 the corporation has changed hands between several owners and partners . 4 the restaurant chain is owned and managed by pancho s mexican buffet inc. which was previously named pamex foods inc. 9 pamex foods inc. changed its corporate name to pancho s mexican buffet inc. in 1982 . 9 in 1988 there were 55 pancho s mexican buffet restaurants . 10 at the end of 2000 there were 48 restaurants and the company employed 2001 people . 9 in september 2004 there were 40 restaurants located in the u.s. states of arizona louisiana new mexico oklahoma and texas . 11 overview edit pancho s is most popular for having its buffet customers raise the flag to request more food ; each table has a small tricolored flag with the three colors of the flag of mexico . 12 the flag however is sometimes missing the mexican coat of arms and thus more closely resembles the flag of italy but sporting the image of pancho the mascot of pancho s mexican buffet . the food is reasonably priced 13 and the dining area is often decorated with a courtyard motif with two sayings in spanish on the walls mi casa es su casa my house is your house and panza llena corazon contento full belly happy heart . 12 several locations also sold a limited line of products that customers could purchase and make their own sopaipillas tacos etc. at home as well as a small selection of pi atas that could be used for parties or other decorating reasons as well as sombreros de charro and handcrafted mexican artisan goods such as small pottery toys and figurines . fare edit pancho s fare include tacos flautas enchiladas tamales rice refried beans guacamole and many other traditional tex mex items including fajitas and healthy options such as tacos and salads as well as hamburgers . chicken nuggets corn dogs and french fries are served in their children s menu as well as a kid size buffet . sopaipillas have been served for dessert since the restaurant s opening ; in the 1990s most locations also began offering a dessert bar with soft serve ice cream and other more traditional american fare . flagship location edit damage caused by hurricane katrina forced the metairie louisiana location in new orleans to close . 12 on march 30 2009 panchos mexican buffet returned to metairie with over 600 invitation only patrons in attendance at a private opening the previous friday . 14 as of january 2012 the metairie and baton rouge super buffet locations have been permanently closed . references edit a b c d e f g company overview of pancho s mexican buffet inc. . bloomberg . retrieved 3 july 2016 . a b c panchosmexicanbuffet.com . cordero cordell t. ; cordell r. 2007 . aprovecho a mexican american border cookbook . hippocrene cookbook library . hippocrene books incorporated . p. 11 . isbn 978 0 7818 1206 1 . retrieved july 4 2016 . a b c d history of pancho s mexican buffet inc. fundinguniverse . mcnulty ian . pancho s lowers the flag . letter pancho s too low brow for media but not mesa residents . 1 panchos mexican buffet houston . a b c d e sec filing . u.s. securities and exchange commission . december 29 2000 . retrieved 3 july 2016 . moody s handbook of otc stocks . moody s investors service . 1988 . retrieved 3 july 2016 . the company recently opened its 55th pancho s mexican buffet . subscription required the national jobbank 2005 . national jobbank . adams media corporation . 2004 . p. 866 . isbn 978 1 59337 104 3 . retrieved july 4 2016 . a b c new orleans fans second line to resurrected pancho s mexican buffet can olga follow in wendy s footsteps . kiplinger s personal finance . june 1986 . p. 9 . retrieved 3 july 2016 . panchosmexicanbuffet.com . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pancho % 27s mexican buffet & oldid 743419471 categories mexican restaurantsbuffet restaurantsrestaurant franchisesrestaurants in dallascompanies based in dallasrestaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 1958hidden categories pages containing links to subscription only content navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 15 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view