MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Frank Macias, better known as Frankie Flav’z, is set to open his sixth restaurant in the Rio Grande Valley — nearly seven years after he first started flipping patties out of a food truck he opened in 2016.

“You know when I opened the food truck, I wanted to do a good burger,” Macias said. “That’s what drew people to our food truck. Me and my brother-in-law, Chris, were sitting in the truck and we decided let’s make different burgers. From there, it just progressed from two or three burgers. Now we’re up to like, 35 burgers on the menu.”

He wasn’t always known for his flavorful burgers. Macias said he was headed down a different career path.

“I was going to school at TSTC to be a nurse,” Macias said. “And they had a culinary program. And I’ve always loved cooking. I had a passion for cooking. My wife, Cindy, I told her ‘Hey, look, I like this culinary program. I’m thinking of switching.’ She’s like, you know, that’s your passion. Go for it. And so I transitioned from nursing to culinary.”

He said his inspiration for cooking came from his father, who worked in the kitchen at Valley Baptist Medical Center for over 40 years.

“He would come home and he tried to you know, he was always gonna barbecue like most dads, but he made Chinese one day, do Italian one day and, you know, growing up I mean, I always thought that pretty neat,” Macias said.

One of his best sellers on the menu is the Si Pancho burger, which originated from Macias’ father.

“My dad would go to the kitchen, and be like, ‘Hey, can we do this burger?’ and ‘si Pancho si Pancho’ I was like, ‘You know what, that’s a good burger,’ and I put it on the menu and that one sells a lot,” he said.

Macias has successful businesses across the RGV, but says when he first opened his food truck it came with many struggles.

“You have to depend on your business and what location you are going to be at. And if the elements are going to be there. You know, if it’s cold and raining you are not going to get any business. You just have to roll with the punches and you know, take what was given. And when the opportunity is there, you got to present the best food you can at any moment.” Macias said.

With the opening of his newest restaurant in McAllen, Macias says his craft burger house might make its way up north in the near future.

“We definitely want to hold down the Valley first and build the structure, and then we can kind of move forward with that. But yeah, being here in the Valley with six locations has become a big challenge. And we’re ready, as soon as the time’s right we’ll move to Austin,” Macias said.

Macias said he is proud to represent the RGV and help showcase everything the Valley has to offer.

“It’s good to see people like us, you know, striving and becoming who we are. We were here from the Valley. It’s a lot harder than coming from up north,” Macias said.