Latina business owners share secret to success amid pandemic

Click here for updates on this story

    MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas (KTBS) — When America shut down during the start of the pandemic, many businesses struggled. But for a couple of Latina business owners in East Texas, surviving the pandemic wasn’t nearly as brutal as it could have been.

“Classica buenos dias,” said Linda Seaborne as she greets her customers by phone.

Since the start of the pandemic, Seaborne has not stopped taking calls at her shop, Classica Gold in Mt. Pleasant. Normally her business is full of employees teaching customers how to cook healthy meals then selling them the cookware. After the pandemic hit, classes shut down and the company’s corporate office in New York saw the worst.

“My heart was completely broken when I heard their stories,” she said. “They had no way out. But here, it was completely different.”

During the shutdown, Seaborne fielded more than 300 orders by phone and began shipping products from her small shop.

On the other side of town another Latina businesswoman was also surviving. Connie Mercado, owner of Dos Senoritas Mexican restaurant, has run a successful restaurant for the last 27 years. She had to shut down at the start of the pandemic before going to curbside dining.

“It has been hard. It has not been easy. We have just been very fortunate,” said Mercado.

But the success both women have experienced may have less to do with luck and more to do with their business practices and the relationships they’ve built.

“Business owners really make communities. They invest in people. They are people who have to really think not only of themselves but other people,” said Seaborne.

Seaborne believes it was the relationships she built with her more than 4,000 customers, most of whom were also Latinos, that kept her business going.

Mercado’s customers were also loyal.

“Right now, with the pandemic, more Latinos come to eat than before the pandemic,” she said.

According to a study by Stanford University, Hispanic communities are strengthening American economies. Latin and immigrant entrepreneurs start more businesses than native-born Americans and grow revenue more quickly than the economy as a whole.

Mercado credits her success to her strong work ethic and staying out of debt. The land her restaurant sits on is 100% hers.

“I am very blessed to be able to have that and not have to owe anything to the bank,” said Mercado.

Mercado was able to keep all of her employees who wanted to continue working on the payroll

“I don’t care if I make profit. I care about them keeping their job and being able to maintain their families,” she said.

Staying away from credit is a trait many Latinos share which is why Mercado believes they can support each other and keep the economy moving.

“Our Latino community is equipped to live through thick and thin. They come from different backgrounds where they have not had it easy and they know how to get through it.”

From 2009 to 2019 the number of Latino business owners grew 34% compared to 1% for all business owners across the U.S. From 2018-2019 Latino owned businesses reported an average revenue growth of 14%, outpacing the growth of the U.S. economy.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.