Mariano's Hacienda Ranch - Arlington

About the Business

Specialties

Mexican Cuisine & Cantina

History

Established in 1977.

Mariano Martinez (born 1944) is a Mexican American inventor, entrepreneur and restaurateur. In Dallas, Texas, in 1971, he adapted a soft serve ice cream machine to making margaritas and dubbed it "The World's First Frozen Margarita Machine". That machine is now in the collection of the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Museum.

Meet the Business Owner

Business owner information

Mariano M.

Business Owner

It was 1971, and Mariano Martinez had just opened his first restaurant. It was an instant sensation - unfortunately! "We couldn't make our margaritas fast enough," remembers Mariano, "And our bartenders? They were just trying to keep those blenders going and the customers from doing the same!"After many sleepless nights, Mariano stopped for coffee in his neighborhood 7-11. As he watched a Slurpee machine go round and round, his own wheels started turning. An old soft-serve ice cream machine, his father's secret recipe and a whole lot of tinkering (and taste-testing!) later, the first Frozen Margarita Machine was born in Dallas, Texas.The rest, of course, is history - literally. Mariano's original frozen margarita machine was inducted into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. in October, 2005.