The 64-year-old S.F. taqueria that claims to be birthplace of the Mission burrito may close

A decades-old San Francisco taqueria that claims to have created the Mission-style burrito may soon shut down, according to its owners.

Raymunda Ramirez, co-owner of El Faro at 2399 Folsom St. in the Mission District, told the Chronicle that a nearly two-fold rent increase, from $4,400 to $7,500, and unsteady business may mean the 64-year-old restaurant will have to close. The business is currently listed for sale at $225,000, which was first reported by SFGATE, in hopes a new operator can keep it open. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently.)

Ramirez told the Chronicle that since putting the restaurant up for sale in January, the family has only received two inquiries, neither of which moved forward. "It's a historically significant business of 64 years. That may not matter to others, but it does to me," Ramirez said in Spanish.

If the restaurant does not sell it may close as early as the end of May, Ramirez's stepdaughter Patricia Kocourek said. A combination of lagging sales and increasing operating costs, on top of the recent rent increase, have become strains on the restaurant.

The landlord for the restaurant did not respond to requests for comment.

Founder Febronio Ontiveros opened El Faro in September 1961 as a grocery and deli. He went on to operate as many as eight El Faro restaurants across the Bay Area. Following his death in 1999, the restaurants became independently owned and operated. The original location on Folsom Street, which Ramirez operates, as well three other, separate El Faro restaurants, in downtown San Francisco, Concord and South San Francisco, remain open.

There are competing origin stories for the birth of the Mission-style super burrito - Taqueria La Cumbre on Valencia Street has the claim painted on its facade - but El Faro has one of the more credible ones: The city's Legacy Business Registry, which aims to help preserve businesses older than 30 years that have also contributed to the identity of their respective neighborhoods, recorded the business' claim that Ontiveros made the first Mission-style super burrito on Sept. 26, 1961. It was just a day after El Faro opened, and Ontiveros was reportedly looking to feed firemen from a station in the neighborhood. Because the large flour tortillas commonly used for burritos today were not commercially available at the time, Ontiveros laid three six-inch tortillas side by side to wrap meat, beans, rice, sour cream, salsa and guacamole inside. He sold the oversized burrito for a dollar. The city added El Faro to its Legacy Business Registry in 2024.

El Faro's current co-owner Ramirez first got a job at the Folsom Street restaurant in 1980, brought in by a cousin who also worked there at the time. She said she and her husband, Patrick Kocourek, bought the restaurant in 2003.

Patricia Kocourek said that El Faro has been resilient, making it through the COVID-19 pandemic and a string of break-ins in 2024 that cost the business owners more than $20,000 in damages, which it tried to recover through a crowdfunding campaign. Still, rising food and operating costs have made running the taqueria more difficult lately, Kocourek said. Business has also been unsteady this year, with big rushes in between prolonged slow periods. The unpredictable swings in business often keep the owners from sending workers home in the late evening, which would allow them to save on labor costs, in case of a possible dinner rush.

Ramirez normally works at the restaurant but is currently inactive as she recovers from a recent knee replacement surgery. She had struggled with mobility issues for four years prior to the surgery. She said that being unable to help around the restaurant when its future is uncertain makes this ordeal even more difficult.

"I feel so bad, helpless," Ramirez said.

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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 7:08 PM.