Despite being one of the epicenters for Latino culture in the United States, Los Angeles has become a place of reckoning for our community. Latino Angelenos are being targeted from all sides—facing educational disparities, health inequities, economic hardships, environmental racism, and the imminent fear of deportation amid escalating federal crackdowns. Families are overwhelmed, scared and struggling to keep their heads above water.
And now, the Los Angeles City Council is pushing a new costly restaurant ordinance that risks pushing many Latino small business owners—and the family-owned restaurants they’ve built—past the point of survival.
A recent report from Oxford Economics sheds light on what Los Angeles restaurant owners have been enduring for more than a year: these policies are hitting Latino-owned small businesses hardest and threatening the cultural fabric of Los Angeles. The ordinance—which would single out LA’s local restaurants with costly and duplicative scheduling and training mandates—would pile up to $96,624 in new annual costs per restaurant. For the Latino small business owners still reeling from last year’s fast food wage hike, this could be the final straw.
That comes on top of the $250,000 in added annual costs many are already facing from last year’s 25% fast food wage hike under AB 1228. Latino-owned restaurants, especially those that only own one location, simply can’t sustain that kind of financial pressure. We’re looking at a combined $340,000 in new costs per year for small, family-run restaurants already operating on razor-thin margins.
These additional expenses will force many beloved local restaurants to close their doors, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs and eroding the diversity that makes LA unique.
This financial strain isn’t hypothetical—it’s already playing out. More than 760 LA restaurants have already shut down since AB 1228 passed, with owners citing the $20/hour wage and unsustainable operating costs as key reasons for closing. California has seen over 36,000 fast food jobs lost, and food prices have soared nearly 15%, putting what used to be reliably affordable meals out of reach for many families. Workers are experiencing fewer hours, diminished income and less flexibility—key reasons many choose to work in this sector.
This ordinance would add insult to injury—triggering more job losses, more closures, fewer worker hours and even higher food prices—deepening the crisis for Latino workers, families and small business owners who are already gasping for air.
This isn’t just a numbers game—it’s a breaking point. Latino restaurant owners, many of whom started as dishwashers or crew members, have spent decades building these small businesses as pathways to stability, community and generational opportunity. Now that dream is slipping away.
Owning a local restaurant has long been one of the few reliable equalizers for Latino families in LA. But that path is being erased by overlapping mandates, regulatory burdens, and runaway costs.
The reality is clear: these policies are punishing the very businesses that serve and reflect our neighborhoods. In California, 60% of local restaurants are owned by people of color and 50% by women. Nearly 70% only own one restaurant. These family-owned small businesses often lack the resources to absorb such unprecedented costs or withstand further regulatory burdens. Without careful consideration, this ordinance would have a devastatingly outsized impact on Latinos across Los Angeles.
We urge the Los Angeles City Council to reject this unnecessary, costly restaurant ordinance. Instead of policies that threaten to wipe out small businesses and local jobs, we call for collaborative solutions that preserve our community’s culinary diversity, support employee flexibility and foster a sustainable future for the restaurants that make Los Angeles so vibrant.
Protecting LA’s restaurant industry means protecting our communities, our culture and our livelihoods.
Let’s not add to the weight we’re already carrying.
Lilly Rocha is CEO of the Latino Restaurant Association