Anamia’s got its start in Coppell when Jay and Anna Ortiz opened their own Tex-Mex restaurant. The name is a hybrid of the names of Anna and their daughter Mia. From there, the Ortizes added locations in Flower Mound, Southlake and Plano.

“Our loyal customers in all four locations are constantly asking, ‘Please come to our town ...’” said Jason Shepherd, the director of operations for Anamia’s. “As long as they love us, we’re going to keep trying to meet those needs.”

The owners and management plan to have controlled growth to keep the quality consistent at each Anamia’s location.

“A lot of companies grow too fast, and so you lose that culture the further away from your base that you get,” Shepherd said. “So we’re very aware of that and not going to do that.”

Featuring spices that are ground fresh for the restaurant, Anamia’s dishes are made from fresh ingredients in house.

“All of our recipes are made from scratch, authentic, [with] fresh ingredients,” said Yareli Perez, the general manager of the Southlake location.

That includes the meats the eatery uses, Shepherd said. He added that customers will find the same dishes at every Anamia’s they frequent.

“Consistency is a big deal for us because we have such a loyal following,” he said. “It’s much more difficult to maintain that level of consistency from a scratch-based kitchen, but that’s a huge focus for us, because if you work in Plano but live in Coppell, you want the food to taste the same.”

A culture of treating the guests like family is a hallmark of each Anamia’s, Perez said. The employees and managers focus on knowing the customers.

“Our regular customers, we know them by name,” Perez said. “We know ... what they want the moment they walk in, so we always have that ready.  … That’s how we build relationships with them.”