It’s a wrap star. A San Francisco taqueria owner defended his whopping $22 burrito price — which has outraged patrons leaving bad reviews — by saying his popular menu item isn’t an “everyday” indulgence. Ricardo Lopez’s birria burrito at La Vaca Birria has been rated San Francisco’s best burrito in the Mission District, and until recently, customers enjoyed it for $12 to $18. But due to inflation and labor costs, Lopez, 31, has raised the price of the slow-braised beef burrito to $22. “We do not see ourselves as an everyday burrito,” Lopez explained to The Guardian . He had upped the price from $18 to $20 in December, before raising it another $2 this month, he told the publication. Chinese and Mexican restaurants are notorious for being affordable and menu prices often don’t align with inflation, which Lopez thinks is a major issue. “The Chinese and Mexican restaurants have not been increasing prices along with inflation,” he told The Guardian. “I’m barely seeing some restaurants where the burrito is $15. It should have been that two years ago.” Angry customers are finding the price hike hard to swallow — and are flooding La Vaca Birria with bad reviews. “This taqueria is incredibly expensive. $20 for a burrito is ridiculous. The food is good but not worth the exorbitant prices,” one disgruntled patron seethed. “If the owner intends on charging these prices, he needs to thoroughly remodel his restaurant and improve his customer service, which is desperately lacking. It’s definitely a hole in the wall. I will never go back.” Another wrote: “So I loved the grilled cheese birria burrito. Two years ago it was $11. One year ago, it was $12. Today it is $22. The Chronicle wrote an article about the burrito in November. Coincidence?” It was not a coincidence, according to Lopez, who replied to the customer, going into detail about how the famous birria is a “multiple-day process” and how the increase in food costs and minimum wage has increased their monthly expenses by thousands. “No, it is not a coincidence that our prices started increasing more after The Chronicle review. When Cesar (Chronicle food writer) came out with that list, our bank account was almost empty, it literally over-drafted the weekend before this article came out),” he wrote. “Cesar and The Chronicle gave us a spot on their platform acknowledging our hard work [which] we were too scared to increase prices in fear of losing customers,” he continued. “They gave us the confidence in ourselves that we can charge what we need to keep our doors open and maintain our vision without lowering our quality. ” He revealed in the transparent reply on
Google that the increase in minimum wage cost him an additional $3,000 per month, and with food prices skyrocketing, his beef prices have gone up $6,250 monthly. When he went back to look at the receipts, which he shared with The Guardian, he found that his tortillas raised from 15 cents each to around 33 cents. The price of cooking
Oil went from $20 to $35, which he estimated to add an additional $1,000 of monthly expenses just for the one item. Even beans and rice — items that are known to be low cost — have risen. A 50-pound bag of beans now costs $47 and an equal-measure bag of rice now costs $42. Before, Lopez paid $20 and $25, respectively. “It’s literally everything,” Lopez told the
British publication. “Beans are up, rice is up.” On top of that, Lopez had intentionally kept his prices low when he opened his business to help attract customers Even now, he only serves around 200 customers per day as he builds up his business and his restaurant is considered halal, meaning they don’t serve pork. Despite his transparency, Lopez told The Guardian he’s received calls from angry patrons, including one who told him “to “get the f–k out of his country.” But the restauranteur has also seen a wave of support since the nasty reviews were left. “This place is sooo good it was worth the drive!” one customer wrote on Google. “The burrito was worth the $24.00, absolutely worth it,” another wrote. “People, at least in San Francisco, have definitely come out to support,” he told The Guardian. But more importantly, he thinks it’s time for Mexican and Chinese restaurants to raise their prices. “I hope every damn Mexican restaurant in the Bay area raises their prices!” he wrote on Google.