Companies face heat for taking PE money. These days, the alternatives aren't great.

Christian Pineda, CEO and cofounder, and Jacobo Ackerman, chief operating partner, run the taco chain's day-to-day operations.

Dolly Faibyshev for BI This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.

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A horror story in eight words: Private equity just invested in my favorite BLANK.

"PE ruins everything" is a well-worn trope, but it's not unearned.

Private-equity investors have a history of stripping companies for parts and saddling them with debt, leaving customers wondering what happened to the product they once loved.

So it wasn't surprising that some fans of Los Tacos No.

1, an NYC Tijuana-style taco chain, feared a new PE investment would ultimately ruin things.

Christian Pineda, the chain's CEO and cofounder, told BI's Martina Nacach Cowan Ros that he's determined not to let that happen , and that "private equity is not always bad." Ironically, the visceral reaction was exactly why TSG Consumer, which also backs Crumbl and Dutch Bros Coffee, was interested in the taco joint in the first place.

TSG executive Colin Welch told Martina that Los Tacos No.

1 has a "cultlike following," and the company needs to "show those skeptics that it's going to be exactly the same." Before you roll your eyes, there's a recent example of a largely positive PE-backed story in the restaurant industry.

Blackstone spent two years turning founder-run Jersey Mike's into an IPO-ready company.

While the PE firm took big steps to professionalize the 51-year-old sandwich shop, it didn't touch portion sizes or suppliers.

And Blackstone also established a shared ownership plan allowing Jersey Mike's employees to cash in on this summer's IPO .