Tex-Mex chain Lucharitos to make managers and top chefs part-owners at Long Island locations

Hannah Lavarco, of Shirley, started working as a waitress at a local restaurant when she was 16.

She eventually joined Lucharitos in Center Moriches, where she has climbed the ranks from floor manager to general manager. Come January, the 29-year-old mother of two can also add a new title to her resume. She will be a stakeholder at the store, where she has worked for the past three years, becoming a part owner through a company profit-sharing plan. 

Lavarco, who also has worked at the chain's Greenport location and helped manage the Ronkonkoma restaurant when it opened, said she is eager to grow with the fast-growing Long Island-based Tex-Mex chain. The chain said recently it is offering the plan for select general managers and chefs as a way to help build its brand and help retain employees — a move that is relatively rare in the industry but one that hospitality experts say incentivizes workers.

"This shows that our owner wants to see us grow as well," said Lavarco. "It's a motivation to get more sales. We all live in New York and I have two kids, so I could see the profit-sharing helping me out."

Lucharitos's owner Marc LaMaina told Newsday, "Profit-sharing is something I've always wanted to do." 

The chain, which opened in Greenport in 2012, now has seven locations with 300 employees during the spring and summer seasons. Its menu includes a wide variety of tacos, burritos and margaritas, according to its website.

"I knew we'd need some partners to get where we want to go. And we want to go as far as we can," LaMaina said.

Under the chain's profit-sharing plan, general managers can earn up to 10% of a location's net profit, or profits after taxes and expenses, LaMaina said, "making them not just leaders, but true owners of their stores." 

Seniority and performance will be taken into account for profit-sharing, he added.

The profit-sharing will be offered to 12 employees across all locations — Greenport, Mattituck, Aquebogue, Center Moriches, Ronkonkoma, Melville and Mineola — and include some executive chefs, said LaMaina. He added that if a location closes, stakeholders will collect an interest of the sale price, as well. 

"If we ever sell the company, they're going to be part of that, too," LaMaina said, adding that some employees can expect a “substantial” bump in their salary with profit-sharing.

Employees with 1 to 2 years of employment will get 1-2% of their location's net profits; those with 3 to 5 years of employment will get 2-4%; and those with a tenure of 5 years will get up to 10%.

LaMaina declined to comment on the chain's profits, employee salaries or additional details about the profit-sharing plan.

A profit-sharing plan is a company benefit that typically awards employees a portion of a company's profits in the form of cash or stock, according to financial media site Investopedia. Unlike a 401(k), a profit-sharing plan does not involve a contribution by the employee, and the IRS limits the amount that can be awarded annually through a deferred profit-sharing plan.

Arizona-based restaurateur and industry expert Gary Pryor said profit-sharing is a good way to retain employees.

Retention is precisely his goal, LaMaina said.

"My employees have helped me build locations," LaMaina said. "How do you get people to grow a business with you? You've got to draft up the paperwork so it's tangible. And at the end of the day, good things happen and the end product is better for it."

A rare industry move

While workers like Lavarco have an opportunity to become stakeholders in a growing restaurant chain, the company's move is not necessarily an industrywide trend.

A survey of 159 restaurant companies from January to June by Black Box Intelligence, a restaurant performance specialist and analyst group, showed that only 16% offered profit-sharing in 2025. The number was up only slightly from 11% in 2019.

"I think the relatively low adoption is that companies favor bonuses as a way to provide incentives through variable pay," said Victor Fernandez, chief insights officer at Black Box, in an email. "The advantage of using bonuses is employers have more control over what is being rewarded."

Some workers have mixed reactions about profit-sharing though, one study indicates. 

An October 2024 survey of 500 industry professionals by national restaurant and hospitality job platform OysterLink found that 97% felt that profit-sharing should be based on individual effort of each employee, 2% liked the idea overall and 1% was against it. 

But Pryor said that "in today's environment, profit-sharing is an absolute must, because it builds trust and camaraderie between the owners and the people who work there."

LaMaina at Lucharitos agrees.

"As a worker you want to feel part of it, not just by title. We want to create a growth environment for our people," LaMaina said. "They're going to build the brand and build themselves at the same time."