Companies face heat for taking PE money. These days, the alternatives aren't great.

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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 backs Crumbl and Dutch Bros Coffee, was interested in the taco joint in the first place. TSG executive Colin Welch told Martina that Los Tacos No. 1 has a "cultlike following," and the company needs to "show those skeptics that it's going to be exactly the same."

Before you roll your eyes, there's a recent example of a largely positive PE-backed story in the restaurant industry. Blackstone spent two years turning founder-run Jersey Mike's into an IPO-ready company.

While the PE firm took big steps to professionalize the 51-year-old sandwich shop, it didn't touch portion sizes or suppliers. And Blackstone also established a shared ownership plan allowing Jersey Mike's employees to cash in on this summer's IPO.

It hasn't all been a fairy tale. The company opened below its IPO price of $23 — never a good sign — and is currently trading around $18 per share.

You might not like private equity, but it could be your only option.

Los Tacos No. 1 spent 13 years growing to 10 spots across Manhattan and an additional sister location, Los Mariscos. Further expansion in such an expensive city is difficult enough. Add in the rising cost of goods like beef, limes, and avocados, and growth plans become even harder to achieve.

There are other ways to raise capital outside PE, but they aren't pretty these days.

The lending market remains a disaster. The possibility of at least one more rate hike before the end of the year means borrowing costs aren't likely to drop anytime soon.

And the public market isn't too inviting. The heavy focus on AI means anyone who isn't a major player in that space risks being ignored by investors. Even the biggest names in AI, like OpenAI, aren't rushing to go public.

This isn't about defending private equity. (God knows it has enough money to do that itself.) It's just showing the economic and market environments have limited a lot of companies' choices.