La Bamba Mexican Restaurant
Burritos as big as your head, open late.
Last updated
La Bamba Mexican Restaurant is a fast casual chain founded in 1987 and based in Champaign, Illinois. It serves Tex-Mex cuisine and is known for staying open late at night, with locations concentrated in college communities across the American Midwest. The chain operates under the slogan 'burritos as big as your head.'
History
Ramiro and Antonio Aguas opened the first La Bamba restaurant near the main campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1987, naming it after the song of the same name. The chain expanded as a franchise family-owned by La Bamba Mexican Restaurants Group, which had at least 27 locations in central states by 1997, with possible expansion into Georgia, Tennessee, and Minnesota considered. In 2006, Antonio Aguas was abducted at gunpoint outside his Champaign business and held for ransom after being transported across state lines; the FBI and Portland, Indiana law enforcement secured his safe return and arrested two suspects. In 2007, the Ohio Attorney General named La Bamba Mexican Restaurants Group in lawsuits against Citibank and Campus Dimensions Inc. over advertisements that offered free burritos to students without disclosing that applying for a credit card was required.
Did You Know?
- Some La Bamba restaurants have expanded menus beyond standard Tex-Mex offerings.
- The restaurants often feature artwork depicting athletes with burritos for heads.
- La Bamba is known for its hot sauce.
More in Regional Restaurant Chains in the United States
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: La Bamba Mexican Restaurant (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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