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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Alaina Demopoulos

‘Don’t spend $20 on an acai bowl’: gen Z are shunning private equity’s restaurant takeover

customers eat at a busy taco chain
Customers eat at a Los Tacos No 1 Mexican taqueria, which started receiving private equity funding in September, in New York City. Photograph: Bloomberg

Los Tacos No 1 is a classic New York success story. After the Mexican-style taco joint opened in 2013, it quickly became a critic’s pick in the city’s paper of record, drawing long lines and a devoted lunchtime crowd. As word spread about its juicy al pastor and handmade tortillas, it expanded to nine locations. Then, this September, bad news struck: Los Tacos No 1 had received an undisclosed amount of funding from private equity firm TSG Consumer.

According to a press release, this cash would help Los Tacos pursue “thoughtful, founder-led growth”. Customers were not so sure. Social media posts quickly declared “the beginning of the end” for the chain, half-jokingly anticipating tiny portions of bad food.

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