COVID-19 has claimed the life of a Wichita restaurant pioneer
.JPG "Francisco Rizo, back left, is pictured in 2002 with is son-in-law, Jose Arnoldo Fernandez and his granddaughter, Lupita Cordova Fernandez. Rizo was one of the founders of Chico’s Mexican Restaurant in 1974.")
The founder of a long-running Wichita Mexican restaurant has died age 94, a victim of COVID-19.
Francisco Rizo, who in 1974 co-founded Chico’s Restaurant with his wife, daughter and son-in-law, lost his battle with the virus on Wednesday, said his granddaughter, Lupita Cordova Fernandez. She has owned and run the restaurant since 1999.
Rizo was the patriarch of his large family, Lupita said, a father of 12 who had so many grandchildren and great grandchildren, the family has lost count.
He was a strong and healthy 94-year-old, who traveled back to his hometown in Mexico as recently as last year and who still would climb onto roofs while doing remodel projects. Despite his age, his family thought he would pull through COVID-19, but it was too much for him, Lupita said.
He died in Newton, where he had been living for the past 13 years, one day shy of the 13th anniversary of his late wife, Magdalena’s, passing. His daughter, Clara Fernandez, died last year at age 77.
“He was strong. He was healthy,” Lupita said. “The VA couldn’t believe how healthy he was.”
Rizo came from Mexico to the United States illegally in the late 1940s and joined the U.S. Army. He was active duty in the infantry for three years before the army found out he wasn’t a citizen and deported him.
But by then, Rizo was already married with several children. He managed to get back into the country using his discharge papers.
In 1974, he and his wife partnered with their newlywed daughter, Clara, and her husband, Arnoldo Fernandez, to open Chico’s Restaurant in a tiny, shingled building at the corner of Douglas and West Street. Rizo had previously worked in restaurants in Mexico, and the new place was named for him.
Francisco, whose nickname was “Chico,” had already earned many admirers in town, Lupita said.
He was a regular presence in the restaurant until Lupita bought it. She relocated the restaurant to a $1.2 million building at 4407 W. Maple in 2007 after West Street construction forced the family out of the original spot.
Rizo was a proud veteran, Lupita said, and he was well-known in the local soccer community, having helped found and run the Aztecas Soccer Club. He’s considered a legend among local soccer players, she said.
Earlier this year, Lupita put the family business up for sale after years of financial struggle. She texted her family members to apologize, saying she worried she’d failed and let them all down. Her grandfather told her, “You are not a failure,” she said.
The restaurant is still open while Lupita looks for a buyer.
Lupita said she would most remember her grandfather’s “dancing and his smile. He would see no strangers. I don’t care if you were a friend or a stranger or a bum in the street, he would feed you.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 11:31 AM.
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