After 40 years spent feeding burritos to Gainesville’s hungry students and residents, Burrito Bros. Taco Co. will serve its last meal Saturday.
Owner Randy Akerson confirmed Sunday Burrito Bros. would be closing Saturday, following months of financial instability.
Between construction of The Standard at Gainesville, which restricted parking on 14th Street, and too many canceled home football games, revenues had looked bleak.
In October, Akerson estimated they had dipped about 23 percent in a year’s time, and he predicted his business wouldn’t survive, according to Alligator archives.
“After 40 years, I am just distraught,” he said Sunday.
The efforts of a GoFundMe page and a birthday celebration that raised more than $3,500 were not successful, and patrons will have one week to taste the famous burritos and sauce.
“It’s the last remaining bit of original Gainesville,” said UF alumnus Steve Huber, who visited the restaurant Sunday.
As a native of Gainesville and a Burrito Bros. fanatic, the 46-year-old Jacksonville resident said he stopped by for lunch at least three times a week when he was a student.
For him, the short lines and empty seats he saw Sunday aren’t how he remembered the restaurant. He considers it a rite of passage for UF students to experience Burrito Bros. at least once before they leave.
“It’s worth the wait, worth the parking, worth the trip,” he said.
Even though he hasn’t been to the restaurant in about five years, this trip was particularly special, he said. For the first time, he brought his daughters Kaia, 7, and Sienna, 4, to eat a Gainesville-famous meal.
“It’s a pilgrimage,” he said.
Sienna took one large bite of a hard-shell taco and nodded in silent approval. She was even a fan of the special-made taco sauce.
Huber said when he was in college, he would get 10 packets of “love sauce” at a time and use them at home. He said he would keep the sauce in the refrigerator and use it for everything, from eggs in the morning to a barbecue marinade.
“We fought over the last one,” he said. “Stealing someone’s Burrito Bros. sauce is like taking someone’s last beer.”
For his last meal at the restaurant, Huber ordered an original beef burrito with nothing added but sauce.
“Without it, I’d feel like a part of my history, connected to my hometown and college town, would be gone forever,” he said.
Huber decided he would buy a shirt for old times sake, and Sienna quickly responded that she wanted one too.
“Can I have a tie-dye one?” Kaia asked.
“The whole family is getting T-shirts today,” he said.
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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.
