We all know San Antonio is a town on the make with some of the fastest-growing businesses around. Here are just a few regionally and nationally acclaimed companies born right here in the Alamo City.

H-E-B

The original H-E-B was started just outside of San Antonio by Florence Butt in 1905 with a $60 investment.
Her son, Howard E. Butt, took over management in 1919.
Today there are 340 H-E-B stores in the United States, all in Texas.
The company saw a $46.5 billion revenue in 2024.

USAA

The financial institution serves all 50 states and was founded in 1922 by 25 Army officers in San Antonio.
They launched an innovative membership-owned structure focused on serving the military community.
The company serves 14 million members + saw $48.6 billion in revenue in 2024.

Valero Energy Corporation

Valero set up headquarters in San Antonio in 1980, commissioning its first full-scale refinery in 1984 in the Corpus Christi area.
Today, the company is the single largest independent refiner in the world.
It has 15 refineries, a throughput capacity of ~3.2 million barrels per day, and a reported 2024 revenue of $129.88 billion.

Church's Chicken

In 1952, George W. Church, Sr. opened the first "Church's Fried Chicken To Go" at 111 S. Alamo St.
The first Texas-based company to expand across the country, it operated 44 restaurants by 1968.
Today, Church's Chicken operates in 27 countries.

Taco Cabana

This Tex-Mex icon was founded in San Antonio in 1978 by Felix Stehling, with the original location converted from a former Dairy Queen.
The company went public in 1992.
Today, there are 144 Taco Cabana restaurants in Texas.
The company was sold to Yadav Enterprises affiliate in 2021, so it's privately owned today — but its last reported revenue for 2022 was $268.4 million.

Even the companies are bigger in Texas.