It is ‘eating’ them: the effect of inflation on taco shops

The high rates of inflation that have occurred in Mexico for more than a year they have been “eating” little by little at the taco shops in the capitalMexico City, where some are debating during Taco Day, this Friday, March 31, between increasing prices or facing the abyss of closing.

(Read: Fed Chairman Aims to Restore Price Stability.)

In the taco shops that abound in the streets surrounding the SCOP roundabout, one of the best-known in Mexico City, located in the Narvarte neighborhood (neighborhood), taco makers consulted on the occasion of the celebration, assured that inflation has affected the entire taco chain.

The increase in the prices of raw materials affects the stalls and the infinity of diners that every day, at any time, they put the most representative dish of Mexican gastronomy in their mouths. “yesIt has affected us a lot (inflation) starting with (the price) that the breeders of the animals give us, the price of meat went up a lot“, explained Vicente Gutiérrez, manager of a stall in the tianguis (market) on Tajín street.

(Also read: Surprise rebound in UK inflation in February.)

Gutiérrez works the barbecue taco (steamed meat in its juice) and assured that now pay 60% more for raw material. “The ram is the most expensive thing there is,” she said. Like him, it has happened to other taco makers in the area who they have been forced to raise their prices to 10 pesos (0.55 dollars), lose customers and, in some cases, register economic losses that put their continuity at risk.

“We no longer have the same clientele and obviously we reflect this in sales, which have dropped a lot,” lamented Federico Garnica, who runs the Los Primos taco shop and used to work a couple of places away, in El Joven, specializing in tacos. of basket.

(See: Volatile inflation in European countries).

In the first half of March, inflation in Mexico closed at 7.12%, but the problem comes from behind: last August, the country recorded its highest inflation rate of the century, at 8.7%. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), the annual variation rate of the price of corn tortillas stands at 14.3%, beans at 12.73% and meats such as beef or chicken a 4% and 4.9%, respectively.

The interviewees also resented the increase in the cost of vegetables, lemons or cheeseequally important for the cue.

(Read: The United States economy grew 2.1% in 2022).

EFE