LONG BEACH, Calif. — Long Beach has a new, inaugural taco week, and while it’s a great community event, there’s a deeper motivation for restaurants to participate.

Restaurant owners in Long Beach said current events, from food inflation to tariffs, have affected them greatly enough that they wanted to participate in Long Beach Taco Week to drum up support for their local small businesses.

In total, eight restaurants around the city are taking part, offering taco meals between $5 and $15.

Ismael Miramontes, owner of La Chancla, said the event is all about supporting local businesses.

“The whole idea is inviting people to try small businesses. Inviting customers because guess what? Those big chains, they can absorb this hit with the economy. Us little guys, it’s harder for us to go through this,” he said.

Industry experts said stories like these are now commonplace, because restaurants never recovered from COVID before other major events — like food inflation and tariffs — further impacted the industry.

“Close to 40% of restaurants are still weighed down by debt incurred during the pandemic. Those bills are coming due soon and that’s why you see a lot of restaurant closures now because they just can’t make it work. It’s going to take a decade for the industry to really recover,” explained Jot Condie, CEO of the California Restaurant Association.

Long Beach Taco Week concludes on Sunday.