For the second consecutive night, Burrito Brothers Taco Co. ran out of food Tuesday, its second busiest day in 40 years.
At 7 p.m., a cashier at the 1402 W. University Ave. restaurant informed a snaking line of hungry people they were tapped out of food.
Signs were placed on both doors alerting incoming customers of the food outage, likely only the restaurant’s second in history, owner Randy Akerson said.
It proved to be the restaurant’s second-highest grossing day of business since 2011, when the UF football team faced the University of Alabama in Gainesville, Akerson said. On Tuesday, the restaurant earned five times its average daily revenue.
“No matter how well prepped we may be in the morning, we lose ground all day,” Akerson wrote in a text message. “Sooner or later, we have to stop taking orders.”
For about four hours, there was a constant line of about 40 people at the restaurant, hoping to eat at the Gainesville mainstay one last time before it closes for good Saturday. UF alumni have traveled from around the nation to get one more taste, Akerson said.
Blake Weinard, a UF sustainability studies and sociology student, was manning the register until the doors closed around 8:40 p.m. Incoming calls continued even after the store closed.
“This is beyond anything we could’ve imagined,” the 22-year-old said.
Despite a $10,000 donation pledged Tuesday via GoFundMe, Akerson said the restaurant won’t be accepting any money intended to save it. With a reported loss of about $300,000 in revenues since September 2015, Burrito Bros. is well past the point of saving, he said.
“We’ll go until we can’t go any- more,” Akerson said, “and then we’ll cry and drink beer.”
About 25 customers dine at Burrito Bros. Taco Co., located at 1402 W. University Ave., on Sunday night. The restaurant has been serving the Gainesville community since 1976.
