As lore has it, the margarita was created on the U.S.-Mexico border. But the origins of its slushy variant, the frozen margarita and the machine that mass-produces the frosty concoction, are as American as they come.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History blog serves up the tale of Dallas entrepreneur Mariano Martinez, who created the “World’s First Frozen Margarita Machine” for his restaurant in the early 1970s. Martinez found his inspiration in the 7-Eleven Slurpee machines that managed to perfect a drink just “slushy enough to drink through a straw.” The convenience store chain wouldn’t sell a machine to Martinez, so, like any good Texan entrepreneur, he decided to make his own, according to a May 5, 2010, blog post, “A frozen margarita tale for Cinco de Mayo.”
