For Philadelphia Latine Business owners, passing down culture and business intertwine
Today there are nearly 12,000 Latine-owned businesses in the city, but it wasn’t always like this. Success now is the result of generations of hard work.
Today there are nearly 12,000 Latine-owned businesses in the city, but it wasn’t always like this. Success now is the result of generations of hard work.
This story was originally published in 2Puntos in collaboration with Metro Philadelphia. It is part of a four-part series about Latine Philadelphians.
Second generation and third generation immigrants often represent a fresher, more creative perspective. It's no longer about the lack of resources faced by the first generation, but rather how to innovate by blending the traditional with the contemporary.
But four decades ago, the story was very different. First-generation migrants had to dig deep to succeed, often with limited resources, to pave the way for the second generation to fulfill their dreams.
A completely different landscape
David Suro migrated from Mexico to Philadelphia in the late 1980s. With hard work, no business background, and almost no money, they raised enough to buy a restaurant in Center City now known as Tequilas Casa Mexicana. Suro did what few had achieved at the time, introducing Mexican food as fine dining in the heart of the city.
Back then, sourcing what’s needed to run a restaurant was a major challenge, starting with the most basic thing: ingredients.
In Philly he didn't have access to the most basic staples in Mexican cuisine. There were no avocados for guacamole. There was no good cilantro. Not even epazote. So Suro traveled to Chicago to get the freshest ingredients to offer the best of Mexican cuisine in Philadelphia.
“For me to see the type of Mexican food that we have in the city right now, I feel so emotional,” he said.
The love of sharing Mexican food runs deep in the Suro family. David Suro’s son Dan Suro is the owner of La Jefa, a coffee and cocktail bar that combines the flavors of Guadalajara and Philadelphia.
Born in Philadelphia, Dan Suro honored his roots by naming his restaurant La Jefa (“the boss” in Spanish), in honor of his late mother. Representing the second generation of Mexican entrepreneurs in the city, his menu mixes in a more creative, experimental, and even avant-garde vision.
“I think everything about La Jefa, I've learned through my dad,” said Dan.
For his father, there’s never been a better time for the second and third generations of Latine entrepreneurs.
“It is a very good time for minds like theirs,” David Suro said. “For us [the first generation], it was like you don't have a choice.”
The community comes first, then business
Amaryllis “Amy” Rivera Nassar, owner of Amy Pastelillos in Fishtown, was born in North Philadelphia to Puerto Rican parents. She grew up watching her pastor parents giving even what they didn't have to the Latine community.
While her father gave the sermon, her mother showed love to others through food. But in 2016, Rivera Nassar's life took a turn after she lost her mother.
Cooking became her way of coping with grief while serving her Latine community. It was the only way Rivera Nassar found to feel close to her mother and keep her memory alive.
“She's the inspiration and the reason for all of this,” Rivera Nassar said.
At Amy Pastelillos, neighbors, local chefs, and even unhoused people stop by for food and water, filling the corner space with a sense of community.
Rivera Nassar's daughters, who are third-generation Latinas, have also inherited their mother's entrepreneurial talent. Although one is 9 and the other is 7, they are already interested in learning how to run a business and make money on their own.
"She's so proud,” Rivera Nassar said of her eldest daughter.” “She's like, 'Wow, it's really cool. You have a business, Mom!’"
From El Balconcito to Vista Perú: A 100% family business
Patricia Toro migrated from Peru to Philadelphia more than 30 years ago. The eldest of three siblings, she was followed by her mother and brothers, who sold what little they had in Peru to start a new life in a city where they knew no one.
Yet in 2005, the Toro family opened El Balconcito I, combining Peruvian and Portuguese cuisine. Three years later, they opened El Balconcito II.
While Toro and one of her brothers worked as servers, their mother and stepfather were in charge of the kitchen. For Toro's oldest son, Matthew Alegría, El Balconcito became his second home. He spent most of his time playing in the restaurant's basement while his mother worked—a reality for many working Latine mothers.
Now as a second-generation Peruvian-American, the 18-year-old Alegría proudly works as a waiter in the same restaurant that saw him grow up.
“El Balconcito raised me,” Alegría said. “It taught me many things, and I have to pay back El Balconcito for what it has given me.”
Known in Northeast Philly for El Balconcito I and II, the Toro family expanded to Old City in 2018, opening Vista Perú to compete on equal footing with other non-Latine restaurants.
“I was the only Latina woman showing my face on this block,” Toro said. “I thought they would never respect me. But now the neighbors know us, they know who we are, and they even recommend us.”
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