Empresas Polar acquires fifth-generation family-owned Ricos Products

Empresas Polar, a family-owned Venezuelan food and beverage company founded in 1941, has acquired Ricos Products Co. through its subsidiary Alimentos Polar International. Ricos is a fifth-generation, family-owned San Antonio company and the originator of concession nachos.

News: After more than a century of family ownership, the Liberto family sells Ricos to a strategic buyer that is itself family-owned, with management and headquarters staying in San Antonio.

Why it matters: Empresas Polar says its growth in the US has allowed it to identify new portfolio options, which makes it an active strategic buyer of US food brands.

Radar: Watch for further US food and snack acquisitions by Empresas Polar, and for other multi-generation family food companies weighing a sale to a like-minded strategic owner.

People involved

• Tony Liberto – Owner.
• Lorenzo Mendoza – Buyer.

A name here does not mean that person signed the purchase agreement.

Source: Empresas Polar (PR Newswire), 10/30/2026.