FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 After more than a decade serving the community, La Jacka, a family-owned Mexican vegan restaurant in downtown Fresno, is closing its doors.<\/p>\n
Owner Miriam Martinez says the decision was difficult. <\/p>\n
According to Martinez, she says this is not the end of the business but a transition into a new chapter.<\/p>\n
What started as a small idea grew over the years, from selling at swap meets and farmers markets, to operating a food truck, and eventually opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.<\/p>\n
Martinez says the restaurant\u2019s first years in its downtown location brought growth, with sales increasing compared to the food truck. <\/p>\n
She says the business also made it through the pandemic by adapting through pop-ups and continuing to connect with customers.<\/p>\n
But Martinez says this past year brought new challenges.<\/p>\n
She says factors including; declining sales, concerns about immigration enforcement, and homelessness issues that drive people away. <\/p>\n
She says rising costs and a difficult economy made it harder to keep the restaurant going.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s affecting everyone, because we\u2019ve talked with different businesses that have gone through the same thing, businesses that have already closed, are thinking about closing, or can no longer sustain themselves,” she said. <\/p>\n
Martinez says she is leaving this chapter with mixed emotions, proud of what her family built but saddened to close this location.<\/p>\n
\u201cSad, honestly, I feel very satisfied with what we have achieved… my children, my husband, my family, everyone. Because it has been a team effort. We all gave it our all, the very best that we could give,” she said. <\/p>\n
Even though the downtown restaurant is closing, Martinez says she is already looking ahead.<\/p>\n
She says she is exploring new ways to continue sharing her food with the community, including possible pickup orders through her commercial kitchen space, The Hotspot Kitchen, located near Belmont and Palm avenues.<\/p>\n
Martinez is also working on packaging her jackfruit products with hopes of eventually getting them into stores, it’s something she says has been a long-time dream.<\/p>\n
She is also considering bringing back the La Jacka food truck next year, though those plans are still being worked out.<\/p>\n
For now, Martinez says she is grateful for the customers who supported the business throughout the years.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m truly grateful to the community, forever thankful for all of their support.<\/p>\n
La Jacka will remain open through June 30. Martinez says customers can continue following the restaurant\u2019s social media pages for updates on what comes next.<\/p>\n
She is also working on a new venture in the mezcal industry, working on a project that blends culture and tradition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 After more than a decade serving the community, La Jacka, a family-owned Mexican vegan restaurant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-366255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}