Raul Jimenez Sr. was born on July 1, 1932 in Dallas, Texas, to Felix and Alejandra Jimenez. Raul was one of three children. He grew up druing the Depression and didn't own a pair of shoes until he was 7 years old. In 1940 Raul's family moved back to Dallas from Del Rio where he helped his father, a grocer. Never able to finish his schooling, Raul held an 8th grade education. In 1945, at age 13, he went to work as a migrant laborer in Ohio, Indiana and Minnesota. Upon his return home, he began delivering sweetbread in and around Dallas every morning from 6 to 11 a m. At 11 a.m. he would reload a truck with Mexican style sausage that his father prepared from an old family recipe and began selling until dark.
In 1953, on one of his trips to San Antonio to purchase spices for his father, Raul saw the potential market for Mexican sausage and decided to go into business for himself. At age 21, he borrowed $2,000 from his father and established the "Jimenez Sausage Company". This is also the year that Raul married his wife, Maria del Refugio Quiroga. They had two children: Raul Jr. and Patricia. During their honeymoon, Raul and Maria make their Mexican sausage in their 13 x 17 foot home kitchen in San Antonio. He would mix the sausage by hand and Maria would fill and tie the casings. The next day, Raul would go sell them to independent grocers.
In 1954 "Jimenez Food Products, Inc." was founded in a one room plant at 616 Delaware in San Antonio. In 1963, Raul purchased his brother's tortilla factory and changes the name to "Jimenez Food Products, Inc". One year later Raul purchased the largest tortilla factory in Fort Worth with a loan from the SBA. The factory became a test kitchen, restaurant, bakery and corn products plant. In 1967, Raul received the Chamizal Settlement Medallion from President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1972, Raul opened the Raul Jimenez Educational School in Fort Worth for his employees so that they could learn English and earn their GED. The following year he opened his Mexican food plant at 7915 S. Pan Am Expressway in San Antonio, where he produced sauces, chorizo Mexicano, tamales, cheeses, flour tortillas, corn tortillas and jalapenos. Between the years of 1982 through 1986 Raul opened 3 restaurants - 2 in San Antonio and 1 in Fort Worth. In 1988, Jimenez Mexican Foods was listed 40th in the Hispanic Business 500 with reported sales of $40 Million in 22 states.
Raul passed away on October 26, 1998 at the age of 66. In May 2010, San Antonio based Global Food Products, Inc. acquired the Jimenez Mexican Food brand name and registered trademark.
