Companies face heat for taking PE money. These days, the alternatives aren't great.
Source: Business Insider ·
When popular NYC taqueria chain Los Tacos No. 1 received an investment from a private equity firm, criticism swiftly followed.
From the source
Christian Pineda, CEO and cofounder, and Jacobo Ackerman, chief operating partner, run the taco chain's day-to-day operations.Dolly Faibyshev for BIThis post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.A horror story in eight words: Private equity just invested in my favorite BLANK."PE ruins everything" is a well-worn trope, but it's not unearned.Private-equity investors have a history of stripping companies for parts and saddling them with debt, leaving customers wondering what happened to the product they once loved.So it wasn't surprising that some fans of Los Tacos No. 1, an NYC Tijuana-style taco chain, feared a new PE investment would ultimately ruin things.Christian Pineda, the chain's CEO and cofounder, told BI's Martina Nacach Cowan Ros that he's determined not to let that happen, and that "private equity is not always bad."Ironically, the visceral reaction was exactly why TSG Consumer, which also…