The Latino Restaurant Association is pleased to release its 2021  Annual Report. Despite the ongoing challenges of 2021, the LRA, our community partners and restaurant members came together to support each other through these learning experiences. 

LRA 2021 Annual Report

DINE LATINO Restaurant Week Launches to Help Latino Restaurants Recover from COVID19 Losses

The Latino Restaurant Association promotes DINE LATINO Restaurant Week in an effort to help draw customers to hard-hit Latino Restaurants

Los Angeles, CA - The Latino Restaurant Association (LRA), a national non-profit, introduces DINE LATINO Restaurant Week 2021, an initiative that showcases the depth and diversity of Latino restaurants in an effort to help draw customers to Latino restaurants. DINE LATINO Restaurant Week will be held two different weeks this year beginning Tuesday, April 6 through Sunday, April 11, 2021, and a second week during Latino Heritage Month, from Tuesday, September 28 through Sunday, October 3, 2021. 

“The DINE LATINO initiative helps raise awareness of inequality in the industry while promoting Latino restaurants” states Lilly Rocha, CEO of the Latino Restaurant Association. “Latino restaurants have been hard hit, they haven’t received anywhere near the fair share of PPP money, so we are promoting the DINE LATINO Restaurant Week in an attempt to drive customers back to their favorite Latin restaurants” Rocha continues. The aim is to highlight Latino restaurants to the general public during these two weeks. Participating restaurants will be offering a special “DINE LATINO” prix fixed menu for lunch, dinner, or both. Restaurants can register for free at the LRA website (https://latinorestaurantassociation.org/dinelatino). This is a national program, although the LRA is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

The DINE LATINO Restaurant Week program is free to all restaurants. Restaurants do not have to be members of the association to participate. Restaurants are asked to share fun photos and videos on their social media feeds to provide additional content and increase visibility. In addition to this FREE Program, the Latino Restaurant Association also offers other free resources helpful to all restaurants.  Additional information can be found on the LRA website at: www.latinorestaurantassociation.org and to follow the Latino Restaurant Association on Instagram.

WHAT:                        DINE LATINO Restaurant Week 2021

WHEN:                        Tuesday, April 6 thru Sunday April 11, 2021 

WHERE:                     National Program based in Los Angeles, CA.

About the Latino Restaurant Association:

The 800+member-based Latino Restaurant Association is dedicated to promoting and supporting all types of Latino restaurant businesses and their auxiliaries to ensure the equitable economic growth of the Latino restaurant sector. As a member association we work to bring out member community together to advocate for critical issues impacting our industry. We provide resources and educational opportunities to support effective business practices. The LRA strives to create an all-inclusive Latino restaurant platform for the country.

The Latino Restaurant Association is pleased to release its 2020 Annual Report. Despite the extreme challenges of 2020, the LRA, our community partners and restaurant members came together to support each other through these difficult times. 

The Latino Restaurant Association Statement on LA County new in-person dining restaurant closures orders.

The recent surge in cases of COVID-19 has shown us all that the virus is still with us and coming back with a vengeance. The Latino Restaurant Association (LRA) is foremost, devoted to the overall health of all members of our community. We continue to support and encourage our members in abiding with current Public Health ordinances and recommendations.

The LRA opposes the newly revised Los Angeles County Public Health Order to ban in-person dining. No information has been provided tracing the recent COVID-19 spike to outdoor, in-person dining. The new measure seems punitive for those who have done everything in their power to oblige all the preventative and safety measures currently in place. Latino restaurants and other businesses throughout the county have invested thousands of dollars to ensure safety for their employees and customers.

The measures that will be enacted on Wednesday, November 25 thru mid-December by the Department of Public Health (DPH) will further devastate local Latino restaurant businesses and their employees who have been unfairly bearing the brunt of this pandemic. The in-person dining ban will cause the loss of many jobs and businesses within the Los Angeles Latino restaurant community. Without alternative relief efforts from local and state government along with the current recommendations, we will see restaurants all across Los Angeles closing permanently at the end of 2020.

Our position reflects the overwhelming number of phone calls and emails we have received in the last couple of days from our members. “Restaurant owners have been telling us that relying on take out and delivery-only will mean cutting staff as much as 90 percent,” said Lilly Rocha, LRA Board Chair, “It will be devastating for a lot of families right before the holidays.”

We will work with DPH to continue to create awareness and educate our restaurant members on ways to which abide by the measures. And we pledge to continue to advocate on behalf of our members and the Latino restaurant community with local and state health officials to provide the needed increased governmental help and intervention at this time.

Our Feed Frontliners Program was in delivery-mode this week, thanks to a generous grant from Walmart. On Tuesday, May 12, the Latino Restaurant Association and Walmart brought lunches and care packages to frontline staff at LA County + USC Medical Center. Walmart volunteers from their Panorama City and South Gate stores were on hand to help pass out food. Thanks to Walmart we were able to provide meals for healthcare works AND support local Latino restaurants. Meals were provided by Yucas Restaurant, El Coraoense, Lonzo's Restaurant and Milpa Grille.

KCAL 9 and Univision KMEX were both on hand to cover our largest Feed Frontliners delivery yet.