Cinco de Mayo celebrates the legendary Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which a Mexican force of 4,500 men faced 6,000 well-trained French soldiers. The battle lasted four hours and ended in a victory for the Mexican army under Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza.

For Restaurant owners, May is the month, with Cinco de Mayo and mother’s day.  Food, beer, tequila, mariachis, cards and even decorating companies also take advantage of this "Everybody’s Mexican" frenezi.  Even American brewers are trying to hop in on the holiday's popularity, in the form of life-sized Cinco de Mayo poster and aluminum bottles pushing their own brands.

The date is celebrated by the more than 7.28 million Texans of Mexican origin and for many others who love to party.

People of Mexican origin make up more than one-quarter of the residents of Texas.

25.8 is the median age of people in the United States of Mexican descent. This compares with 36.7 years for the population as a whole.

14% percentage of employed civilians 16 and older of Mexican heritage who worked in managerial, professional or related occupations in the US.  In addition, 24 percent worked in service occupations; 20 percent in sales and office occupations; 18 percent in construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations; and 19 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.

701,078 the number of firms owned by people of Mexican origin in the United State by 2002. They accounted for more than 44 percent of all Hispanic-owned firms. Among these Mexican-owned firms 235,735 were in Texas.

$96.7 billion sales and receipts for firms owned by people of Mexican origin in 2002.

116,290 number of firms owned by people of Mexican origin in the construction sector in 2002, which led all sectors.

Mexican Food a strong business

$100.4 million product shipment value of tamales and other Mexican food specialties (not frozen or canned) produced in the United States in 2002.

$48.9 million product shipment value of frozen enchiladas produced in the United States in 2002. Frozen tortilla shipments were valued even higher, at $156 million.

347 number of U.S. tortilla manufacturing establishments in 2006. The establishments that produce this unleavened flat bread employed about 14,500 people. Tortillas, the principal food of the Aztecs, are known as the “bread of Mexico.” About one in three of these establishments was in Texas.

Data Source: 2002 Economic Census. Cinco de Mayo Facts for Features

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