SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Minority restaurant owners are having a tough time feeding their customers with the uphill battle that is inflation. It's impacting everything from the products they have available, to the way they run their business.
It's significant because Sacramento is known as a melting pot of food from all around the world.
"A black woman, ethnic woman, an immigrant from Africa coming here in the United States and sharing my food from my ancestors, it means a lot to me," said Zion Taddese, who is the owner of Queen Sheba on 1704 Broadway in Sacramento.
For 18 years, Taddese's specialty is serving Ethiopian food.
But through COVID-19, a shortage of employees, and now inflation, sharing her food has become difficult.
"I'm in survival mode right now. I'm not trying to thrive in this economy. I'm just praying this economy will come through because I went through a lot of recession too. In 2008, the same thing. I had to have my landlord not charge me for a few months," said Taddese.
She's striving to stay afloat despite paying almost twice as much for cooking oil and meat products.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price for food away from home rose 7.4% over the last year, the largest 12-month change since the period ending November 1981.
Less than ten miles up the road from Queen Sheba and the owners of The BEE'A CAFE are experiencing the same.
"Actually I was hospitalized last year due to you know a lot of stress. I got to the point where I had a severely swollen in my stomach. And it was caused by the constant stress and overthinking. Also, put a lot of stress on my relationship with my spouse. And my overall mental health," said Juan Alvarez.
Through hardships, Alvarez is overcoming those challenges.
And making a shift in business.
"I think we already went through the worst phase of our business which was shutting down the restaurant. But you know, now we're focusing on the catering which you know thankfully thanks to the support of the community, we're thriving," added Alvarez.
And if they can make it out of this, they have faith you can too.
"We need to be supportive when it comes to all the stuff that we do here in Sacramento as a community. We are one people. We need to fix our problem, find our solution, said Taddese.
Alvarez says he has had to bump up his food prices. But he's grateful for all the help he's received from the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, the owner of Queen Sheba says she is trying to keep her prices the same so customers can still come in and afford to eat there.
