Guerra family selling restaurant to longtime employee

If you are going to Guerra’s Grill & Catering after this Thursday to get your fajita taco fix or to get a lotta enchiladas, you’ll actually find yourself partaking at Parra’s Grill & Catering instead, partner!

That’s because Martha Jo and Robert Guerra, who have owned and operated Guerra’s at 1303 Saint Lawrence St., Gonzales, since 2004, are selling the restaurant to longtime employee Joann Parra, with the deal becoming final Thursday, May 30.

“We purchased the restaurant in 2004, 20 years ago, and it’s been a blessing,” Martha Jo Guerra said. “It’s been a great thing for our family and a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, but it’s been a blessing to us.

“It’s just time to start a new chapter in life and one of my employees is actually going to buy it from me, so I know it’s going to be in good hands. I’m going to be stepping out and she’s going to be stepping in.”

“I’m very excited to be taking over the restaurant and thankful for the opportunity that Martha gave me,” Parra added.

Parra said the closeness of restaurant staff and patrons “feels like family” and that is something she will make sure does not change when she assumes control of the restaurant. She has loved working the past eight years for the Guerra family and hopes to continue to serve Gonzales residents for many more years to come.

Signage will not require much change — just swapping out the letters “Gue” in “Guerra” for the letters “Pa” in “Parra.” And other than that and the restaurant being under new ownership, nothing else is changing at the locally beloved restaurant, which serves breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“She’s (Joann) going to keep everything the same,” Martha Jo Guerra said. “The only thing she's going to change is longer hours in the day — she will be open more in the evenings. Not right away, but eventually, and then maybe a Saturday on a weekend. That's the only thing she's changing. She’s still going to deliver and she’s still going to cater.”

The menu won’t be changing, either, and you can still get some of the best breakfast tacos, hamburgers, chicken fried steak, chili, French fries and hot sauce in Gonzales — as previously voted on Gonzales Inquirer readers in our 2024 Readers’ Choice awards.

As for the Guerras, not everything is changing. Robert still works at BYK as he has for the past 42 years. Martha Jo says she is going to “take a few months off and see what it is I want to do.”

“I don't know what I want to be when I grow up,” Martha Jo joked. “I have grandchildren that I can take care of and that’ll keep me occupied for a while.”

Before the Guerra family opened their restaurant, the former occupant was named Good Ol’ Days. Well, the good ol’ days at Guerra’s Grill & Catering are expected to continue on — they’ll just continue under the new name “Parra’s Grill & Catering.”