Ethnography. Interview With a Chinese Restaurant’s Owner

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Interview with Kapur Ashish (Chinese Restaurant Owner)
Factors Boosting Chinese Restaurants and Small groceries
Raising Capital for Restaurants
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Chinese restaurants and groceries are very common around the world and the increase is notable in America. These small businesses are now becoming the most popular and in fact research reveal that they are very famous of all the ethnic businesses in the world today. The food somehow consists of homogenous collection much like numerous channels for fast food outlets. There industry is spreading very fast and attracting even foreigners like tourists and so on. The big question about this therefore becomes that; ‘why is it that many Chinese invest in restaurants and small groceries?’ the paper discusses the factors that have enabled this investments.

Interview with Kapur Ashish (Chinese Restaurant Owner)

Kapur has been able to run a Chinese restaurant in the US and its becoming very favourite joint for most people in the area. It’s very interesting how Chinese foods are being accepted around the world by almost every nation (Toren 1).

How did you come up with niche idea of pricing the food?

Ashish: there was a great opportunity in the US and still is to establish a healthy eating food brand. The top cuisines in America usually require that the western perception be sustained. These foods have not been able to create a national healthy eating brand in the industry (Toren 1). Choosing Chinese food was a very great idea since it’s not like the US food, it’s healthier and organic. Furthermore, since the target was youths and young adults, there was a need for serving quality food in stylish atmosphere with exciting menus (Toren 1). The existing restaurants were very expensive or were local kiosks that sold unhygienic foodstuffs.

The business grew at tremendous speed, was it as planned or projections?

Ashish: the business was lucky to be at the correct location at the appropriate time as more retail places were opening up in New Jersey over the past decade. My business was able to create a healthy food brand that could be identified with younger consumers and sloe enjoyed (Toren 1). The driving force was meal experience and not just outlet.

Since you business provides value for money experiences, how has economic crisis influenced this?

Ashish: basically, our brand was able to do better even with the economic problems since our clients are value conscious. With great value at reasonable prices, food variety, exceptional; service and relaxing ambience and friendly workforce, the business was able to retain loyal customers. Another contributing factor was that in the fast moving economy, eating out at our restaurants is very convenient and saves time. The brand equity build was strong enough to survive economic downturn (Toren 1).

So where will the business be in two years?

Ashish: the business will grow a great deal according to the projections to reach an extent that will have a lot of branches in other cities. We based the sacrifice to work in the business from the perseverance and diligence of the pioneers of Chinese restaurants in America (Toren 1).

Factors Boosting Chinese Restaurants and Small groceries

There are several factors that have been behind the increased investment in the Chinese restaurant and groceries over the past few years. The lifestyle of the Chinese has a very rich history that can be used to explain why they are able to run small groceries and restaurants (Li 218). There were very many Chinese immigrants during the 19^th and 20^th centuries to the west as well as other places in the world. This is because there was a very high rate of population increase in china making and hence cases of poverty were also high. People had to move out to seek fresh pastures for survival. As the Chinese moved they brought along their food stuffs to the regions they settled. They opened Small eateries top serves their traditional food and a result many other immigrants came to such places and eventually the non-Chinese came to accept these foods. They served a type of food that was not just plain as the west (Li 218). They included ingredients like seaweed, bird nests and lotus roots this was quite interesting for westerns. The Chinese food is also cheap and very healthy.

As many Chinese moved to the western nations, struggling for survival by al means was not only unavoidable but very essential. This is because there US had set up a Chinese exclusion act that banned more Chinese workers getting into the country. A similar directive was also issued in Canada (Li 219). Considering that the Chinese were very poor starting a very large restaurant was unlikely. At the same time even eating in the American restaurant was too expensive. Thus way they had to find a way of ensuring that they spent less on food or they had a cheaper source (Li 222). They became cheaper source of labour as they had to do the odd jobs in America for survival. During the same time in 20^th century when there was serious economic depression, the Chinese were again blamed for the American problems since they were accepting peanuts for hard work (Li 225).

The Chinese success is can be attributed to their zeal to work. It’s remembered from history that they were experts in fishing, shoe making and farming. Through farming, they could produce enough food. However, as the world developed during industrial revolution and population increased with subsequent need for places to live many people took to do other jobs like construction of railway (Li 226). Since most of the jobs were denied to the Chinese, they hard to find self-employment. Considering that they had very little cash, not fluent in English and lacked experience, they could only do the domestic jobs. They begun operating they own small businesses. Basically they started laundries, small grocery stores, restaurants and small farms (Li 226). This was initially in regions that were occupied by groups of Chinese. They became most important means of survival out of absolute necessity.

The Chinese have the skills and the experience that are needed to run a restaurant or groceries. This have also a historic connection as they farming background enabled Chinese to collect extensive knowledge about food stuffs that has been past over generations that today they are able to prepare healthy foods with diverse ingredients and an assortment of grocery products in their stores. Since many Chinese also worked as domestic workers, they earned experiences in these areas that turned out to be to their benefit as self-sufficient in operating restaurants and stores (Li 227). With such a rich background, the Chinese food industry has become very strong gaining wide acceptance in many regions, partly due to the fact that as Chinese worked as cooks and domestic caretakers, their way of life started getting integrated with that of the westerners (Li 226). Through such development, Chinese foods have gained a bigger market. It’s therefore easy to sustain the businesses even in areas that are not totally inhabited by Chinese.

A critical factor for starting a Chinese restaurant of a grocery store is finance. A critical question to ask, especially in the western nations is: how is it possible for the Chinese to easily start the restaurants? How do the finance it? Basically, most of the Chinese who migrate to the US are in search for better jobs and may not have adequate finances to start businesses yet restaurants could need a great amount of cash and manpower.

Raising Capital for Restaurants

There has been a very strong source of income for individuals to become self reliant called the Hui, a rotating credit scheme. Through this system, the Chinese are able to access credit enough to start their businesses. Every member of the group contribute equal amount which is then pooled and they can take turns to borrow from that kitty (Li 226). In some instances, individual can take direct loans from their relatives or friends to open up small stores. On the other hand, several individual can partner and start a restaurants or a store in which they can be fully employed providing the source of labour and finances needed (Li 229).

In the recent world, credit firms are available to support individuals to better their lives by financing smaller projects like this. Since the Chinese immigrants are not very financially stable, they can only access cheap loans which the can invest. Considering that the market of the groceries and Chinese food is high these business are easy to sustain, furthermore healthy eating campaign favour use of groceries and Chinese food as its considered healthy since its mostly organic or produced in most natural means.

Conclusion

Chinese restaurants and groceries are increasing very fast and offer alternatives to hotdog and burger joints. They are filing and cheap. Nonetheless, nothing could be far from reality as these Chinese restaurants are present in numerous forms that range from luxurious restaurants to those that resemble fast food kiosks.

Works Cited

Li, P.S. Chinese Investment and Business: Ethnic Entrepreneurship Reconsidered. Pacific Affairs, 66. 2 (1993): 218 – 244.

Toren, Adam. Interview with Ashish Kapur. 2009. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!