After more than 31 years on Franklin Street, Bandido’s Mexican Cafe is preparing to close. Owner Antoni Sustaita says the restaurant’s final service will be Dec. 11; the cafe became known for its five-pound burrito challenge.
Sustaita announced the closure in a social media post shared in a Facebook group, citing rising food and labor costs and saying the restaurant could not raise prices enough to keep pace, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. The paper reports that Bandido’s counter-service location on UNC’s campus is also scheduled to close Dec. 11.
Sustaita gave examples of the increases: lettuce that cost $28 a case two months earlier had risen to $100, tomatoes cost $60 a case, and cheese had doubled from $45 to $90, according to The Raleigh News & Observer. He also cited competition in the local Mexican-food market and said he was tired of the struggle and did not expect the economy to improve substantially soon.
A Burrito Challenge Nearly Two Decades in the Making
Bandido’s El Gigante is a five-pound burrito, and diners who finish it alone in under an hour receive a free T-shirt. Sustaita estimates that more than 5,000 people have completed the challenge since it began nearly 20 years ago, according to The Raleigh News & Observer. FoodChallenges.com lists the burrito’s weight as 2 kilograms.
The restaurant sold fewer than a dozen El Gigantes a month for most of the challenge’s history, Sustaita said. After UNC alumnus and social media influencer David Ona posted a video of himself finishing one in 22 minutes this past summer, sales rose to around six a day, he told The Raleigh News & Observer.
Three Decades of Franklin Street Memories
Sources differ on exactly when Bandido’s got its start — the news outlet reports that Sustaita and his family opened the restaurant in 1994, while Bandido’s own website lists 1995 as its founding year. Either way, the cafe opened as one of the few Mexican restaurants in Chapel Hill at the time and went on to expand into a now-closed location in Hillsborough, according to the same report.
Over the years, Bandido’s developed a connection with UNC-Chapel Hill students that Sustaita said really sustained the restaurant, hosting birthdays, anniversaries, family gatherings and other memories for its customers. In its closure announcement, the cafe thanked supporters for more than 31 years of business. Sustaita praised UNC students as respectful and polite, and said feeding and fueling them through the years would be Bandido’s legacy.
Downtown business context
A separate measure offers a snapshot of downtown commercial conditions, but does not explain Bandido’s closure: an unofficial survey of 321 downtown commercial spaces found roughly 24% vacant, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. The survey was conducted by Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership executive director Jeri Lynn Schulke.
Other downtown closures have had different reported circumstances. The Raleigh News & Observer reported that Linda’s Bar & Grill closed in 2023; owner Christopher Carini attributed that closure to the pandemic and said customers had been absent for two years.
Bandido’s had previously closed a Carrboro location. An INDY Week account from that period described a crowded local Mexican-restaurant market.
Bandido’s lists its address as 159 ½ East Franklin Street, according to the restaurant’s own website. With the final service set for Dec. 11, diners have about a month left to attempt the El Gigante one last time, or simply to say goodbye to a restaurant that has anchored Franklin Street for more than three decades.
