Mexicans have been wrapping tortillas around meat and eating them going back to the days of the ancient Aztecs.  However, the meals didn’t get into the US until refugees brought it back during the Mexican Revolution. The taco wasn’t even called a taco until around the 1880s at the earliest.

Once refugees started coming to the US, they wanted to eat the food of their homeland. They started making and eating tacos at home.  Then tacos began getting sold in Mexican restaurants. In southern California around the 1920’s the first famous tacos were called taquitos, the rolled taco.

As of April 2017, there were almost 60,000 Mexican restaurants in the US.  The Mexican Menu Type represents approximately 9% of all restaurants in the US. Mexican food also edged out pizza for the second most common non-simplified US menu type.

According to CHD Experts, consumers spend almost  $40 Billion at Mexican restaurants every year. Of that revenue, Mexican restaurants spend approximately 34 percent or $13 Billion on purchasing food, beverages and other disposable products. CHD Experts indicate that the average Mexican restaurant brings in revenue of nearly $700,000 every year.