Dreams of Becoming the Next Chipotle: NYC-Based Latino Small Food Business Owners' Motivations and Strategies

• In Event: 20862 - Section on International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Migration and Labor

Abstract

Previous studies find that most migrant small business owners enter self-employment because of blocked mobility (Chaudhary 2014, Waldinger, Aldrich, and Ward 1990). In other words, migrants are shut out of the main labor market and start a business as the best of limited options. However, there are also immigrants—and the second generation—that enter self-employment by choice. These ethnic entrepreneurs generally have high educational attainment and have access to good employment opportunities. Ethnic entrepreneurship has evolved, and while it still includes those that enter the field out of necessity, there are also others entering it because they want to and think it is a viable way to make money. I call these entrepreneurs pragmatists, one ideal type of three in my dissertation. Pragmatists dream of their businesses becoming the next Chipotle. They are unlike past immigrants that went into franchising by purchasing a known franchise (Dhingra 2012, Dhingra and Parker 2015, Parker 2013, Rangaswamy 2007), and rather want to start a franchise themselves. In this paper, I ask: what motivates pragmatists to start a business and what resources do they rely on to stay in business? To answer this question, I interviewed 40 business owners and 1 aspiring business owner. I find that pragmatists start a small food business because they see it as having potential to make a good living and find success because of their access to economic capital.

Author

• Ivana Mellers, CUNY Graduate Center