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It isn’t often that “save local media” appears on a restaurant operator’s or a restaurant customer’s to-do list. But that’s just what’s happening in Los Angeles, where the industry is stepping up to help L.A. TACO, an independently owned and operated news site and app that covers food, culture, and community in the L.A. metropolitan area.
L.A. Taco is not your typical media outlet. It is beloved by L.A. area restaurant owners for its in-depth and insightful coverage of the food scene, and in 2020 the publication won the first-ever Emerging Voice award from the James Beard Foundation for “food coverage that touches on the deeper elements around food such as social justice, representation, and immigration.”
But honors don’t equal economic success. And in April, Editor Javier Cabral went online to ask for help. The Facebook message: “Urgent: L.A. TACO Falling Short of Fundraising Goals and Needs Your Support.” The message on the company’s homepage: “We need your help to keep L.A. TACO going; Save L.A. Taco.
As Telemundo and NBC News reported, Sonoratown, Villa’s Tacos, and Simón Food are among local restaurants doing all they can to encourage people to help.
Originally, Cabral set an end-of-April deadline to meet the goal of hitting the 5,000 subscribers mark — the number that would help save staffers’ jobs. After reaching 3,500 subscribers by mid-May, Cabral extended that deadline to June 15, the date of this year’s Taco Madness, L.A. TACO’s flagship taco event, which also raises funds for its street-level journalism.
“To this day, Taco Madness remains the best one-stop shop to try L.A.'s (and the country's, if we are being honest) heaviest-hitting taquerías in one extremely fun michelada-fueled evening,” the company’s promo about the event says.
To help keep L.A. TACO reporting award-winning content about the city’s food, culture, and community, you can become a member (which also comes with perks like free tacos and discounts to area businesses) or to simply donate to the cause, click here.
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