The growth of a small business can come from the result of well-crafted planning – or sometimes by happenstance.

Norma Ozuna and her husband Eddie, with years of experience in working for corporate restaurant chains, made the move in 2021 to open their own business along Expressway 83 in Mercedes. O’s Burgers & More is located adjacent to the emerging Shops At Mercedes. The latter is a 250,000-square-foot retailing development that will give the Mid-Valley a major retailing addition to the next-door Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets.

It was a management executive at the outlet mall who is a regular at O’s Burgers that made Norma Ozuna aware of an open space at the mall’s food court. Ozuna and her husband were considering the possibility of opening a second location in the Valley. As it turned out, the opportunity of expansion came calling by way of a regular customer.

“I think you would be a hit,” is how Ozuna recalls the outlet manager describing O’s Burgers chances at the food court. “We thought about it and we decided to take a chance.’’

In late 2025, the Ozunas moved to take the space at the outlet mall and had the advantage of occupying a place with existing plumbing and cooking infrastructure for a restaurant. It still took a few weeks to arrange things to their liking and get the necessary signage to announce their presence to customers. O’s Burgers opened in time for the 2025 holiday season and began experiencing what it means to expand your customer base.

“We have our regulars at our first restaurant from people in town and customers who know of us,” Ozuna said. “Here at the outlets, we have more customers from other Valley cities and Mexico. We’re seeing a lot of new faces here.”

Mid-Valley Strong

The Mid-Valley’s growth surge of new retailing and restaurants has brought national brands like Starbucks and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen to area cities.

The overall growth is also lifting small businesses like O’s Burgers amidst the ongoing development. Bringing more shoppers and customers to Donna, Weslaco and Mercedes from outside of those communities can mean added exposure for local businesses. Ozuna speaks of it when contrasting the customers of her two restaurants. One is more community-based with local residents and school kids stopping by in groups after games. The new outlet mall site is “shopping and go” customers taking breaks between visiting the many stores at the mall.

The middle communities of the Valley are all in a bit of flux – and in good ways. Will Collins is a McAllen native whose San Antonio-based Merit Commercial Real Estate is at the forefront of new development in the Mid-Valley. The Shops At Mercedes is a Merit development as is a similarly named retail center in Donna. He describes the Mid-Valley growth as among the best in the region.

“What I’ve seen as we have gone across the Valley is just how much growth is occurring in the mid-cities,” said Collins, who is Merit’s chief executive officer. 

David Fuentes, a Hidalgo County commissioner representing Mid-Valley communities, has worked intensively with local elected officials and leaders to improve infrastructure in drainage, utilities and roads to accommodate the growth already here and the future development to come.

“The future is here in the central part of the Valley,” Fuentes said in mid-2025 during the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Shops At Mercedes. “We’ve put in a tremendous amount of work in recent years to get the Mid-Valley ready for growth.”

Looking To Grow

Ozuna and her small business are beneficiaries of these efforts, but true credit goes to the entrepreneurship she and her family have demonstrated in their drive to be successful.

She and her husband for many years were regional managers for a Texas-based drive-in restaurant company. Eddie Ozuna is currently a manager for a well-known casual dining restaurant in Harlingen. Norma Ozuna spent over 10 years in the healthcare field, working as a medical assistant in clinics and doctors’ offices. In 2021, she gave that field up to return to the restaurant business and open the first O’s Burgers. She runs O’s with her husband, two sons and a daughter all pitching into the business.

Now, in 2026, there’s the second location Ozuna just opened at the outlet mall with the possibility of doing even more. The company that owns the outlet mall in Mercedes owns similar retailing developments across the state and nation. The Ozunas have had preliminary discussions about opening their burger business at other outlet malls upstate once the new Mercedes location gets more established. 

“It feels good,” Norma Ozuna said of growing her family’s business. “We’re willing to travel to pursue new opportunities whenever we’re ready and new locations are made available.”