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Ethnic Owned

Immigrants and small business seem to go hand in hand.

Orange County is a hub for immigrant owned and run businesses.

The county counts more than 3 million people, with a good chunk of the population made up of Hispanic, Asian and Arab immigrants. Hispanics alone make up about 31% of the county’s people, with Asians representing about 14%, according to data from the 2000 census, the most recent available.

Many immigrants have carved their presence in businesses that require less money to start and minimal English to make their assimilation to American culture easier, according to Alexandro Gradilla, assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at California State University, Fullerton.

Immigrants typically open businesses that other relatives or people of the same ethnicity have successfully run, said Linda Vo, associate professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Irvine.

As a result, it’s common to see a concentrated ethnic group in certain industries, she said.

In OC, Hispanic immigrants often start food-based businesses such as catering trucks, and service businesses such as landscaping and house cleaning, Gradilla said.

These types of businesses are reminiscent of the Hispanic culture’s “old-fashioned spirit of door-to-door service” where goods and services are solicited, Gradilla said.

Often, a chunk of the money they make from their businesses is sent back home, he said.

“Typically what you’ll see within the Mexican and Latino communities is the effort to fit into a niche,” he said.

“They’re trying to bring a service to us because they know that we don’t have time for certain things,” Gradilla said. Often, you’ll see them providing a door-to-door type of service where they’ll come to you,catering trucks or house cleaning businesses or even when they’re selling flowers or oranges on the street.”

Prior to the late 1980s, whites dominated the catering truck business. Now the business is 95% Hispanic owned and operated, according to Gilbert Gonzales, owner of TGI Caterers Inc. in Anaheim and others in the industry.

“Hispanic immigrants rely on this industry,” Gonzales said in an earlier interview. “This is a business that helps them buy homes, educate their kids and live the American dream.”

Most Hispanic businesses work on a cash basis, Gradilla said. Few businesses are started with loans because there’s a cultural aversion to debt and a general mistrust toward banks, he said.

While an all-cash business keeps a Hispanic entrepreneur out of debt, it often prevents the business from growing, Gradilla said.

“The extent of their business aspect is saving cash. They’re not earning interest on money that’s being made because it’s kept in a safe or under the mattress,” he said.

There isn’t enough awareness in the Hispanic community about the security of the U.S. banking system or technology, according to Gradilla.

The success of Hispanic immigrant-owned businesses often depends on how they adapt to American culture, he said.

Hispanic businesses that make more money typically have a multicultural clientele, and have access to both Spanish and English speakers, he said.

Like Hispanics, Asian and Arab immigrants also look to their ethnic communities when it comes to the types of businesses they open.

In these communities, it’s common to see well-educated people that were professionals in their homelands open businesses unrelated to their former professions, according to Vo and Joseph Haiek, founder of the Arab-American Historical Foundation and the News Circle Publishing House in Glendale.

These immigrants open small businesses unrelated to their former professions because the American system doesn’t recognize their college degrees and they lack proficient English skills, Vo and Haiek said.

Asian immigrants here typically open food and service businesses, said Kim Yen Huynh, president of the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce.

The Vietnamese community, OC’s largest Asian group with close to 200,000 people, is known for its dominance in the nail salon industry, said Tam Nguyen, president of Advance Beauty College, a nail, cosmetology and message therapy school in Garden Grove.

“The nail business is huge in the Vietnamese community,” Nguyen said. “If you open a Vietnamese American newspaper you’ll see literally hundreds of classified ads for nail technicians.”

Vietnamese immigrants steer toward the nail profession because it requires less money and time to learn the trade, Nguyen said.

Technicians usually complete 400-hour training courses for $600, which can be paid off within two weeks of finding a job after receiving certification, he said.

“The returns are really high for nail technicians and that’s why they choose this business,” Nguyen said.

As for Koreans, they’re known for opening dry cleaners and mini markets, according to Ja Suh, vice president of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.

They also start food businesses such as sandwich shops, she said. More recently they’re opening burger joints,businesses that have historically been dominated by Greeks, she said.

Other Asian immigrant businesses include doughnut shops, which are usually owned by Cambodians.

Indians and other South Asians dominate the motel business while Asian buffet restaurants and laundromats are favorable businesses for Chinese immigrants, said Tony Liu, president elect of the Asian Business Association of Orange County.

The Asian immigrant business community is often multi-generational with English-speaking children helping parents run the family business, according to Vo. Their children’s education is a major factor behind starting the business, she said.

“The hours are long, so it can have a negative impact on family life,” Vo said. “Many immigrant parents say they are willing to make the sacrifice so their children can attend college and a find a career so they don’t have to work in the family business.”

This is often the case in Arab-owned businesses, Haiek said. Arab immigrants usually own and operate gas stations and auto repair shops with their children’s help, he said. Like Asians, Arabs usually don’t pass the family business onto younger generations because they want them to pursue careers in professional fields such as medicine, law and engineering, he said.

Newer immigrants still are running similar businesses as those who came years ago.

The latest trend: They’re now starting businesses that cater to their communities, according to Vo.

With improved technology, some immigrants are opening ethnic supermarkets, such as Asian grocers which transport manufactured goods from their homeland and sell them in ethnic neighborhoods like Little Saigon and others, according to Vo.

With such large ethnic populations as potential clients, immigrants also are opening up businesses that provide a wide range of professional services, such as real estate, finance, insurance, legal, media and medical offices, she said.

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