HOUSTON -- Funeral services have been held here for Donald L. Bonham, co-founder of Fiesta Mart here, a chain of supermarkets specializing in international foods. Bonham, 74, died April 5 from complications of a stroke. He opened the first Fiesta Mart in 1972, in partnership with the late O.C. Mendenhall, as a store where Hispanic consumers, primarily Mexicans at that time, could find the kinds of products they had been able to buy in their home countries but could not find in the U.S. "Don had lived in Latin America and had the experience of not being able to find the foods he was accustomed to, and he was able to relate that to people from other countries living in Houston who might be experiencing the same thing," a Fiesta spokesman told SN. The stores have since expanded their merchandise mix to appeal to consumers from Asia, Europe and Africa as well as Latin America. Bonham retired as chairman and president of Fiesta in 1992. The company currently operates 49 stores -- 33 in the Houston area, 15 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and one store is in Austin -- with its 50th store scheduled to open in May. Bonham is survived by his wife Ilsa, three daughters and two stepsons.
