Artisanal Founders: A Qualitative Account of Food Entrepreneurship’s Expanding Appeal Among Latinos

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 28. Beyond Employment

Abstract

Latinos have a large presence in the food industry, but scholarly focus on small food businesses is usually on street vendors. However, contrary to scholarly work and common perceptions, in addition to street vendors selling to co-ethnics, Latinos are also running small restaurants in trendy neighborhoods selling to foodies and operating small manufacturing businesses with distribution online and in major retailers. In this paper I ask: why does small food entrepreneurship appeal to Latinos who have access to other jobs in the labor market? No longer just a risky job to do out of necessity, a small food business is now also a cool job that comes with prestige and can even be a way to make a decent living. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 41 Latino business owners in New York City, this paper interrogates how decision making is shaped by broader economic conditions and cultural trends. This paper argues that overall weakening economic conditions of jobs under the new economy and the cultural cachet of food has made owning a food business preferable to other jobs, even “cool” and desirable, introducing a new highly educated class and the second generation into the profession. Simultaneously, the low barrier to entry keeps the job accessible as a vehicle for upward mobility, albeit a risky one, for Latino immigrants working as street vendors with limited access to job opportunities. This paper shows how Latino’s labor market position is more complex than often presented going against stereotypes of Latino entrepreneurs in the food industry only working as street vendors. First, these Latino small food business owners are entrepreneurs very much like founders of new wave cultural businesses from other ethnic and national backgrounds. Second, many of them have ambitious business plans very similar to mainstream economic trends.

Author

• Ivana Mellers, CUNY-Baruch College