Duane Roberts, frozen-burrito magnate and Mission Inn owner, dies at 88

Duane Roberts made millions off a food he was initially wholly ignorant of: the humble burrito.

It was the 1950s, and his family owned a small meat wholesaler called the Butcher Boy that sold patties to local restaurants, including one of the first operating McDonald’s, a location in San Bernardino.

As the fast-food chain and other burger joints grew in popularity, the family brainstormed other products they could manufacture, Roberts recalled in a 2007 interview with the Orange County Register.

A butcher who worked at the company, whom Roberts described as having Hispanic heritage, made a suggestion: “Why don’t you make a burrito?”

“I loved Mexican food, but I had no idea what a burrito was,” Roberts told the Register, saying he was more familiar with enchiladas and tacos.

But the entrepreneurial Roberts went on to turn that seed of an idea into a bean and beef burrito that could be sold frozen and then deep-fried.

Roberts, who would parlay his business success into a prominent role in Inland Empire Republican politics and attain local fame as owner of the historic Mission Inn, died Saturday, according to his family. He was 88.

The story goes that the Riverside businessman experimented in the kitchen for two days straight to get the burrito right. Its sales helped expand the family business from one plant with 60 workers to six plants with 1,400 workers.

Roberts made millions off the product when he sold the company to Central Soya Inc. in 1980. At the time, the company was generating $80 million in annual sales and producing 1 million burritos each day.

His wife, Kelly J. Roberts, said in a statement that her husband was a “visionary entrepreneur, devoted husband, and a man whose heart and generosity forever shaped [their] family and community.” She said he died peacefully in his sleep.

She described Roberts as a “proud American” who served in the United States military and was a “staunch supporter” of the Republican Party.

“[H]e believed passionately in the principles of hard work, perseverance and opportunity, values that guided both his business ventures and his life,” she said.

Roberts hosted a reelection fundraiser for then-President George W. Bush in 2003, and his wife was President Trump’s pick for ambassador to Slovenia during Trump’s first term — although she later pulled herself out of the running, Politico reported.

The businessman, who grew up in Riverside, is also known for saving the historic Mission Inn from the brink of demolition.

The hotel — which hosted both the marriage of the Nixons and the honeymoon of the Reagans — closed for a major overhaul in 1985, but the renovation dragged on, and then the hotel market collapsed. Roberts swept in offering $15.6 million, a steal when compared with the $55 million spent on the renovation, financed by Chemical Bank.

The bank acquiesced, however, fearing more losses. Roberts reopened the Mission Inn in 1992.

“How the Mission Inn was saved is the happy tale of a city’s heart restarted,” former Times reporter Daniel Akst wrote after its reopening. “But it’s also an object lesson in what you can do if you’re solvent — and clever — during the worst recession in Southern California since the 1930s.”

Roberts had a sentimental attachment to the hotel, as his meat company had sometimes entertained clients there. His mother also loved the ornate architecture.

“I like beautiful old things. The Mission Inn is the fabric that binds the community together. It’s a heart-welling thing to own. Some people have sports teams, I have my Mission Inn,” he told the Register in 2007.

Roberts and his wife have been longtime residents of Laguna Beach, but earlier this year they purchased a $48.5-million Palm Beach estate, the latest example of wealthy Californians and Trump fans flocking to Florida.

He is survived by his wife and his stepchildren Doug and Casey.