Latino restaurateurs seek to adapt to the effects of raids

Kleibéel Marcano and Gery Vereau / Reporte Hispano

The wave of raids by immigration agents across the country has drastically affected small local businesses, especially in communities with a large Hispanic population. But one of the hardest-hit sectors is Hispanic restaurants, whose main clientele is members of their community.

Silvia Concepción, owner of Crazy Corns 05 restaurant in New Brunswick, says that since the start of President Trump’s second term in January and the implementation of repressive immigration policies, sales at her business have dropped by 20%.

«People are still afraid to go out, they aren’t coming to the restaurant as often as they used to, and they’re spending much less,» says Concepción, who adds that she understands the fear given the constant news of raids in the media and on social media.

The fear is not unfounded. The indiscriminate raids and operations carried out by masked agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago have created fear and anxiety throughout the country.

New Jersey is no exception to these raids. From the start of the Trump administration on January 21st until the end of July, ICE had detained 3,201 immigrants in New Jersey, according to data from the Immigration Enforcement Dashboard, an independent research project. This figure is much higher than the total number of people detained by ICE in the Garden State in 2024, which reached 2,959.

To try to weather this situation, Concepción has had to rely on phone orders. “Luckily, phone orders have allowed us to keep the business afloat. But it’s not the same; when people come to the restaurant, they spend a lot more money,” she explains.

Arturo Ortega, owner of the La Fortaleza restaurant chain, with six locations in five cities—Lodi, Clifton, Passaic, Carlstadt, and Poughkeepsie—also said that his restaurant sales have dropped between 20% and 30% due to the raids.

“My business focuses on Latino customers, but these days people are afraid, they’re worried, they don’t know what’s going to happen in the immediate future, so they’re not spending their money and they’re saving it.”

The fear isn’t limited to customers; employees also fear being detained on their way to work or being raided at their workplaces. Adding to this fear is the uncertainty of whether their jobs could be lost due to this situation, which has severely impacted restaurant finances.

Ortega, who says he has about 200 employees on his payroll, doesn’t rule out having to lay off some of his staff if the situation doesn’t improve. “This situation is difficult for everyone. If it continues, I will have to take measures such as reducing staff and general expenses across all six restaurants,” the Hispanic businessman said.

According to the report “The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Mass Deportation: What’s at Risk in New Jersey?” by the organization New Jersey Policy Perspective, the restaurant sector is one of the most vulnerable to current immigration policies.

The report indicates that in New Jersey, 48% of kitchen staff are immigrants. “The loss of these workers would create a severe staffing shortage, force restaurants to close or reduce operations, and negatively impact other roles, such as servers and managers,” the document states, warning that “the restaurant industry would experience increased costs and decreased service capacity” due to immigration policies.

At Mi Pequeño México a restaurant in Newark, owner Celso Navarrete says that to keep his business afloat, he has had to freeze menu prices and cut his employees’ workdays by two hours each day. «If we hadn’t done this, our restaurant would have been in serious trouble,» Navarrete admits.

Not only has the reduction in customers due to immigration raids affected the business, but the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, which have caused a subsequent increase in the price of supplies, have also impacted the sustainability of the business, explains Navarrete, who is confident he can weather the current situation as he did during the 2008 economic crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

For Jimena Medina, owner of Ranchito Mi Perú in Paterson, the strategy for coping with this situation is her «cost-cutting policy across the board.» In addition to offering an affordable menu for just $12 from Monday to Thursday, she runs the kitchen and her husband serves as a waiter. Only on weekends, when their new 100-seat restaurant gets busy, do they hire three more waiters to help out.

Despite the situation, the entrepreneurial spirit of Hispanics remains undiminished. Mambo Cuban Restaurant of Harrison is a new Caribbean restaurant that opened this year with a significant investment in an upscale commercial area of ​​Harrison, on Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard, just steps from Sports Illustrated Stadium, home of the Red Bulls soccer team.

Alexander Antomarchi said that this is their second restaurant; the first is located in Union, New Jersey. Although he acknowledges that the restaurant scene isn’t at its best, he is committed to improving the quality of their culinary offerings.

«There are fewer people going out to eat, but we focus on offering the best food, the best service, the best experience, so that our customers will come back, and so far, they have, and we’re here waiting for them,» the entrepreneur says with a smile.

This story is part of the NJ 2025 Reporting Fellowship, in collaboration with 15 local and community news organizations, the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, and NJ Spotlight News. The stories in this collaboration focus on immigration, education, healthcare, the economy, and the environment from the perspectives of diverse communities in New Jersey.