O’s Burgers & More finds itself in the midst of a Mercedes growth corridor with its business opportunities expanding as well.

The family-owned-and-operated business has thrived at its original location on the intersection of Expressway 83 and Mile 2 E Road. O’s Burgers opened in 2021 as a goal Norma and Eddie Ozuna long had to open their own restaurant after spending years in the industry working for others. Ozuna and her husband were regional managers for a Texas-based drive-in restaurant chain and Eddie today is a manager at a well-known casual dining restaurant in Harlingen.

O’s Burgers is an enterprise all their own – and it’s growing. The Ozunas in late 2025 added a second location by opening a second O’s Burgers at the food court of the Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets. It has added an entirely new clientele for the Ozuna’s business as Norma speaks of “a lot new faces” discovering O’s Burgers at the outlet mall.

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

“Would Be A Hit”

The Ozunas are certainly keeping their eyes on their original location.

O’s Burgers are among the many local businesses that worked with the Mercedes Economic Development Corporation in receiving a funding grant for a new and larger sign for its Expressway and Mile 2 E Road business. The EDC’s Signage Improvement Program has assisted dozens of locally owned businesses with new signage and Norma Ozuna is grateful for the support.

“It’s really helpful,” she said of the signage program. “The sign will be bigger than one we would have purchased on our own.”

O’s Burgers prides itself as a restaurant that serves its food fresh. Its selections of burgers and wings are not taken out of freezers when made to order with the exception of bone-in wings. Its lineup of burgers includes ones made with jalapenos, mushrooms, Fritos, and buffalo sauce. Its wings include those with honey barbecue, lemon pepper, chipotle and mango habanero.

Its addition to the outlet mall’s food court is a welcome one and the only one offering burgers and wings. The Ozuna family moved quickly when made aware of an open spot at the outlet mall and were encouraged to do so by a mall management executive who is an O’s Burger customer.

“I think you would be a hit,’’ is what Norma Ozuna recalls the executive telling her about the open space at the food court. “We thought about it and we decided to take a chance.”

Having a background in the restaurant business certainly helped the Ozunas get acclimated quickly to their new location.

“We knew how to run the business, how to look at the numbers, order and maintain inventory and about customer service,” said Norma Ozuna, who returned to the restaurant business five years ago after a lengthy career as a medical assistant at doctors’ offices and clinics.

She and her family are now looking at the prospect of new opportunities. The company that owns the outlet mall in Mercedes is a large one and has similar retail outlets in other state and national markets. Norma Ozuna says she and her husband have had early discussions about opening O’s Burgers at other outlet malls in Texas.

“We’re willing to travel to pursue new opportunities whenever we’re ready and new locations are made available,” she said.

- Ric Cavazos

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