How Ethnic Restaurateurs Negotiate Authenticity in a Racialized Market

• In Event: 20420 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 7: Culture, Labor, and Meaning Making at Work

Abstract

Ethnic restaurants are more than sites of food consumption; they are spaces where culture, identity, and market forces intersect. This study explores how ethnic restaurateurs in Syracuse, New York, navigate the tensions between authenticity, cultural representation, and the economic realities of operating in a racialized marketplace. Based on in-person semi-structured interviews with restaurant owners and managers, the study examines how they strategically balance customer expectations, menu adaptations, and spatial positioning while responding to broader racial and economic hierarchies. While restaurateurs must often adjust their offerings to appeal to White consumer preferences, they are not merely shaped by market constraints—they actively shape them, influencing how their cuisine and identity are perceived. By engaging in calculated decisions about authenticity, labor, and branding, ethnic restaurateurs assert agency within an industry that both limits and relies on cultural diversity. This study contributes to scholarship on immigrant entrepreneurship by foregrounding the voices of restaurateurs as cultural brokers who redefine the boundaries of ethnic identity and market participation.

Author

• Huseyin Zeyd Koytak, Syracuse University