interviewees #3 and 4
Transcript
When you arrived in the US, was your first goal to start a business (restaurant)?
No, when we first got here, our English wasn’t very good so it was difficult for us to find jobs. (Interviewee #3) had a friend who owned a restaurant. As there was little language requirement, we were able to work as waiters and eventually bartenders. Eventually we realized that while working for somebody, although we were making money, it was only a salary. As we were raising two kids, that money wasn’t enough to support living.
(Interviewee #3) realized that they must start their own business so he could potentially earn more money and take better care of the family.
Did you encounter any legal requirements (contracts, restrictions, permits, etc) when starting a restaurant?
When we started the successful restaurant, the landlord of the space we wanted to rent out gave us the contract. That’s where a lot of the “regulation” came from, mostly dealing with rental agreements.
As for permits, we had to notify the state government about what we were trying to open. They checked to make sure everything was safe and clean–there were a lot of procedures we had to do. We also had to get a license to distribute liquor. To get that, (Interviewee #3) had to take a class for a certificate. They weren’t that difficult, because although we couldn’t speak English very well, we still had a decent understanding of vocabulary.
How did you attract customers?
Always smile. We treated our customers very well. Customer service is crucial. In addition, our prices were very reasonable.
Although our English wasn’t the best, it became easy to understand what customers were asking for, as there aren’t a lot of hard words that come up. Also, customers are there to eat. They are very relaxed, so their English wasn’t that difficult for us to understand.
Did you ever encounter discrimination from customers based on your race?
Although customers sometimes came with their noses up, at the end of the day they were coming to eat. So it didn’t really matter. And times like those were very rare. Also, if we treated the customers well, made good food, and made good drinks, most of our customers were very happy.
Do you have any advice for any immigrants who are considering starting their own business?
If you are considering opening a restaurant, there are three main things you need to have: takeout, dining-in, and drinks. This type of business is especially good if you are not too good at English, like us. You don’t need to be perfect at speaking to serve food. If you want to be successful, and make sure customers keep coming, you have to always smile. And be smart with your prices.
At the end of the day, you have to make sure that you really want what you are trying to accomplish. If you do, then keep on going. You may fail, but you can keep trying like we did, and with each failure, you will learn more. Eventually, it will all work out.