The economy is less complex than we sometimes think. Because there is data that helps us understand what actions can help or complicate the business climate.
Between April and August 2020, so many tacos were consumed in Illinois that we consolidated as the second state in the country where taco sales surpassed hamburgers and the third state where those incredible taco sales helped keep smaller Mexican food restaurants open.
Indiana, Colorado, and Wisconsin, surprisingly, ranked in the top 5 nationally (after Texas and Illinois) as restaurants recorded more sales for tacos than for hamburgers. Those 5 states, on average, are ahead of California.
These are figures from Google Trends, the powerful Google tool that allows us to know what we are looking for and what are we buying on the Internet today. That information, like many other interesting data that we have free access to today thanks to technology, helps us to better understand how the economy works during the pandemic.
Eat a taco” is no longer “trendy”. It’s an everyday thing. And it’s a simple fact that sets in motion a complex chain of economic support.
Taco sales, nationally, were 12% higher than hamburger sales.
GRUMA’s share says, the tortilla manufacturer, grew in Mexico almost as much as Amazon as if it were a technology company.
Tortillas Tia Rosa and 21 other Grupo Bimbo brands had sales increases of more than 30% in the United States.
What people in Mexico know as Bimbo, in the United States, is known as Oroweat, Thomas, Sara Lee, or Ball Park, which solves the problem of cooking every day, now that summer is ending and food consumption on the street will fall. All these are brands owned by Bimbo.
In the last 5 months, YouTube revealed that one of their most-watched cooking videos in the United States is one about a three-color fried bell pepper taco with paprika and ground chicken, courtesy of Indian chef Varun Inamdar from Bombay.
Tacos are practical fast food that it’s made with an “edible plate” (the tortilla) that you can wrap up with your favorite foods. It shares similarities with a sandwich or a hamburger, which in the United States almost invariably contains a “wrapper” made by Mexican bread.
To understand the impact further for both companies this year in the United States, here’s another fact: last year in the U.S., GRUMA and BIMBO’s sales exceeded 50 percent of those in Mexico. In 2020, they will double that figure.
While experts work on a vaccine for Covid-19, which will free the world from this nightmare, every day we can help our small businesses to be vaccinated against the crisis caused by the pandemic. Keep asking for “tacos” or buying tortillas or whatever you need from that local small business that needs our help so badly. That way we can continue to help our people here and in Mexico.
