RioStar Corp.

RioStar Corporation was an American restaurant holding corporation controlled by Ninfa Laurenzo and her family. The company controlled the Ninfa's, Bambolino's, and Atchafalaya River Cafe brands. In March 1990, RioStar had 22 employees working in its corporate office. When RioStar was in existence, its corporate headquarters were in the East End of Houston, Texas.

RioStar was one of Houston's largest Hispanic-owned businesses. In 1994 it was one of 23 Hispanic-owned businesses in Greater Houston to be listed in Hispanic Business magazine's top 500 Hispanic-owned business in the United States, taking the rank of 65th largest.

The chairperson of RioStar was Ninfa Laurenzo. By 1993 she no longer operated the restaurants on a family basis. Roland Laurenzo, Ninfa's son, served as the company's president. Lee Kelleher served as the vice president and chief financial officer. Steve DiMeo served as the executive vice president.

Roland Laurenzo, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, was named president of RioStar Corporation when he was 24 years old, around the year 1976.

In 1989 the company had eleven Ninfa's locations, with one in Dallas, and 13 Bambolino's, all in Houston. In November 1989 RioStar had purchased four Atchafalaya River Cafe locations, two in Greater Houston and two in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, for $6 million. RioStar had acquired them from Richard Tanenbaum, a Houston restaurateur. Greyhound Financial Corp., a firm from Phoenix, Arizona, loaned $4 million to RioStar to allow it to acquire Atchafalaya River Cafe. Of the Atchafalayas locations in the DFW Metroplex, one was in Addison and one was in Arlington. In March 1990 RioStar stated that it planned to build two or three more Atchafalaya locations over the following 12 to 18 months, intending to open one in Clear Lake City by September 1990.

...
Wikipedia