Tariffs killed the best Taco Tuesday in Brooklyn
Trump take taco
Tariffs come for us all eventually. Last month, they came for one of the best Taco Tuesday deals in the city.
For ages, two of the hardest things to achieve in New York City restaurants have been size and longevity. More recently — as prices go up due to the erratic economic situation created by the current president— the hardest thing anywhere to find has been a good deal.
Burrito Bar and Kitchen at the corner of Flatbush and Prospect Place in Brooklyn always had the first two going for it: its wide and long triangle of space packs in dozens of seats under brightly colored walls and funky light fixtures. As the neighboring streets of Prospect Heights filled with sleek bistros selling $25 burgers, it remained a place where a large party could gather to fill a table with reasonably priced tacos and margaritas and watch sports; in September, it will celebrate its 20th anniversary in this location.
It was here that a valiant taco Tuesday deal stood strong against the winds of a changing economy for several years now, offering patrons a Tuesday happy hour deal of four tacos and a margarita for just $15. That is, until last month, when the economy started spasming under our current president, and the restaurant had to begrudgingly end Taco Tuesday.
“It’s just not affordable to give away tacos and a margarita,” Burrito Bar's longtime general manager Greg Yerman told The Groove. “We need to generate more revenue.”
Prices on all perishable items have gone up across the board, he said, and the restaurant “had to figure out a way to survive.” Rather than raise prices on every menu item, the restaurant opted to eliminate promotions, including Taco Tuesday and a Mezcal Monday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the tariffs will cost the state’s economy more than $7 billion, with families facing an average cost increase of $6,400.
The bar also placed a sign on its door, declaring: “Due to the recent new tariffs imposed on many of the products we buy most often, we are forced to increase pricing on many of our menu items,” under an image of a pink heart.
“Those two days were very popular for us,” Yerman said. “Guests come in specifically for those deals.”
Trump’s tariffs and generally incoherent economic strategy have hit everyone differently, from family-owned restaurants in Chinatown to the people who sell Trump bobbleheads in Midtown tourist shops. Late last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the tariffs will cost the state’s economy more than $7 billion, with families facing an average cost increase of $6,400.
Taco Tuesday ending is by no means the biggest of these costs, but it can sting a lot in a city where food seems to get more expensive and niche by the minute, where middle-of-the-road places that serve big portions and non-craft cocktails seem to be an endangered species.
Business has been trending down for city restaurants all year, attributed partly to rising costs, increased bureaucracy and the fact that people just don’t go out to eat as much any more.
“I can tell you the fact is that this past winter was the worst winter for restaurants in a very long time,” Yerman said. “We fell into that as well. It was a very bad winter for us.”
For a long time, the restaurant kept the menu from its original 1991 location on its back wall, an easy way for patrons to compare modern prices to George H.W.-Bush-era burritos. The restaurant recently replaced it with a big-screen TV.
Taco Tuesday was a tough promotion to keep, Yerman said, because, with a deal that good, there’s little reason for customers to order anything else off the menu (and I’ve certainly been guilty of this). Giving away a margarita or tacos for essentially free doesn’t move the needle on increasing revenue, he said.
Burrito Bar has been able to stay in the same place for two decades, even as the Barclays Center changed the DNA of the neighborhood, thanks to a “very reasonable landlord,” Yerman said.
“Usually you say ‘reasonable landlord’ in this business, that’s an oxymoron,” he said.
The restaurant employs about 40 people in the spring and summer to fill its outdoor seating that brings a pop of colorful street life to a stretch of Flatbush. It’s a stark contrast to the outposts of Just Salad and Chick-fil-A that opened directly outside the arena, in that it’s a place you can actually go and hang out before or after an event at the arena (Just Salad has somehow yet to become the Charlie XCX after-party spot).
Yerman said he is going to work with liquor distributors to bring back the deals in a different form for this summer, but they will likely not be the exact same value.
“Hopefully we’ll figure out a way to be more creative where we can reinstate the promotions,” he said.
As we spoke on Wednesday, Yerman announced he had to wrap up our chat: he had lined up two interviews for new people to hire, still hopeful for a busy summer ahead.
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