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Walter Villa, co-owner of Cuzco Chicken Run, came to the United States from Peru in 1989. Ismael Carranza enjoys pollo a la brasa (Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken) at Cuzco Chicken Run on Fall Hill Avenue. |
By CATHY JETT
Gabe Rubalcava was one of a handful of Hispanics going into business in the Fredericksburg area four years ago.
Since then, the owner of Fredericksburg Press on Lafayette Boulevard said he's made business cards for 10 to 15 new Hispanic-owned businesses and knows of at least 15 more.
"What's important is that these people employ people here," said Rubalcava. "Fredericksburg wants to have new business. That's how it builds its tax base."
Hispanic-owned businesses are on the rise locally and nationwide. According to the latest Census Bureau report, there were nearly 1.6 million in this country in 2002. That's a 31 percent increase since 1997, which is three times the national average for all new businesses.
The majority of Hispanic-owned businesses nationwide are, not surprisingly, in such metropolitan areas as Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside in California and the New York City-Newark, N.J.-Bridgeport, Conn., area. Those areas topped the Census Bureau's list with 277,908 and 211,075 businesses respectively in 2002.
But Hispanics also are opening businesses in such places as the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia area--which includes Fredericksburg and Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. The area ranked seventh on the Census Bureau list with 32,412 Hispanic-owned businesses generating nearly $54 billion in income that year.
While there are no official figures specifically for the Fredericksburg region, the Census Bureau did find 184 Hispanic-owned businesses in Spotsylvania in 2002. Combined, they pulled in more than $9.1 million in sales.
The increase in Hispanic-owned businesses locally hasn't escaped the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce's notice. It plans to start a Hispanic Roundtable similar to other roundtables it has for businesses in Stafford and Spotsylvania.
Chamber roundtables give business owners a chance to network and hear talks on such things as arranging financing at monthly breakfast meetings. That could help Hispanics who may distrust banks or don't understand laws governing businesses in this country, Rubalcava said.
In addition, the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Richmond has teamed up with the Small Business Administration to offer the only Spanish/English bilingual Business Information Center in the country. It helps people develop a business plan and learn the skills needed to open and run a business.
The Virginia Hispanic Chamber also is working with the SBA and Innovative Bank to offer qualified small-business owners rapid approvals on loans ranging from $5,000 to $16,000, along with technical assistance.
Most Hispanic-owned businesses are small, with fewer than 2,000 nationwide employing more then 1,000 workers. Spotsylvania, for example, has only nine companies with paid employees, according to Census Bureau figures. But that can be misleading, since unpaid family members work in many of the smaller businesses, according to the National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington.
Among the local Hispanic business owners who do employ staff is Rubalcava, who worked his way up from private to major in the U.S. Army before retiring to become senior vice president of an IT firm in Northern Virginia.
When the IT boom went bust, he decided to go into business for himself and bought Fredericksburg Press from Jim Lewis. He now has a staff of four, including two family members.
"We've done well," said Rubalcava, who has added a drop-off center in Arlington. "Latino customers are about 10 percent of my business. It helps that I can speak English and Spanish."
According to Census Bureau figures, the biggest fields for Hispanic-owned businesses in the Washington metro area were construction, with 8,593 firms, followed by administrative, waste management and remediation services, with 4,947 firms, and professional, scientific and technical services, with 4,079 firms.
Locally, about half of the Hispanic-owned businesses Rubalcava said he's noticed are restaurants and the rest provide other services. Among them is Lee's Hill Restaurant, run by two brothers whose family fled war-torn El Salvador about 20 years ago.
Chris Flores used to have his own satellite TV installation company in Northern Virginia, and Roger Flores is a former Marriott chef who studied cooking in Switzerland. They decided to go into business together after Chris Flores broke his hip.
"That way I could be on the floor and not on roofs and ladders," he said.
Lee's Hill Diner opened in Lee's Hill Shopping Center in November 2004. They changed the name three months later to more accurately reflect their menu.
"We're very happy with the move," said Chris Flores. "We plan to expand."
Brian J. Baker, executive director of the Rappahannock Region Small Business Development Center, said immigration of Hispanics to the United States can be broken down into three stages. First they find work and settle here, then they send their children to school, and finally some become entrepreneurs.
"I think that's what we're probably witnessing now," he said. "They definitely have a strong work ethic."
A case in point is Jennifer Villa, who left Lima, Peru, with her mother 15 years ago in hopes of a better life. She graduated from George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church and attended Northern Virginia Community College for a year before dropping out to have the first of her four children.
She and her then-fiance invested in real estate and started V Trucking Co. By last year, she had enough capital to start Cuzco Chicken Run, a take-out Peruvian restaurant, on Fall Hill Avenue. It did so well she opened a sit-down version next to Buffalo Wild Wings in Central Park in February.
"When I was in my country, there was no money, no nothing," said Villa. "Here, I can give my children what they want. I work hard for them."
To reach CATHY JETT:
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com
