Increasing Number of Restaurants Owned by Immigrants

[The Ripper]

A quarter of all privately owned restaurants in Helsinki are owned by a member of the immigrant population. The restaurant sector also provides significantly more work to immigrants than other sections of industry.

Around a third of all immigrant restaurant owners originate from Turkey, according to Heikki Lankinen, Head of Research at the Finnish Hospitality Association.

"Next come owners from countries such as Vietnam, Iraq, China, the former Yugoslavia and Iran," he adds.

Lankinen believes that this is trend which is set to continue.

"The restaurant industry is one which generally offers a lot of employment to immigrants, as people tend to have less reservations about applying for jobs in the restaurant trade than they do in many other areas of industry."

There are around 2,400 companies operating in the capital region whose owner has a foreign backgound. This accounts for around half of all foreign-owned businesses in the country.

YLE

Link. (http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/12/increasing_number_of_restaurants_owned_by_immigran ts_2185373.html)

I've often wondered about this. Where I live I can only think of a handful of restaurants operated by Finns.

[Fortis in Arduis]

Well, I live in London, so, um... :)

[Eldritch]

I think the fact that you can only pay cash in a lot of those places (no receipt, obviously) has got quite a bit to do with their flourishing.

And then there is/used to be the start-up money triangle trade:

Three people open up three kebab joints or "Chinese" eateries and apply for start-up money. Then when start-up money runs out, all three places declare bankruptcy, and then operator of kebab joint A takes over kebab joint B, operator of B takes over C, and C takes over A, and they all apply for start-up money again.

[Grumpy Cat]

That's because the PC brigade have a colonial mentality left over from slavery and want the brown people to cook food for them.

[Eldritch]

That's because the PC brigade have a colonial mentality left over from slavery and want the brown people to cook food for them.

Oh, that's for sure. :p

However the restaurant business is fairly easy to get into, even in a new environment. Everybody has to eat.

And originally most immigrant rstaurants actually catered to those immigrants themselves, who had jobs elsewhere but wanted to eat their "own" food.

[Grumpy Cat]

Oh, that's for sure. :p

It's true, though. The only argument that pro-multiculturalists can come up with is "good restaurants".

Look the shit up on allcooks.com.

Or maybe *gasp* make a friend with someone of a different race and exchange recipes with them (but they won't, yet I'm the racist one :rolleyes:)

[Eldritch]

It's true, though. The only argument that pro-multiculturalists can come up with is "good restaurants".

Look the shit up on allcooks.com.

Or maybe *gasp* make a friend with someone of a different race and exchange recipes with them (but they won't, yet I'm the racist one :rolleyes:)

I didn't mean to doubt you. I know exactly what you're talking about. And the flipside of that coin is always a disdain for the local traditional cuisine.

[Grumpy Cat]

I didn't mean to doubt you. I know exactly what you're talking about. And the flipside of that coin is always a disdain for the local traditional cuisine.

Yeah probably the disdain comes from the fact that they had uber feminist mothers who wouldn't cook, or cook decent food. Or they left the fathers to cook.

Men can't cook! If every woman died off tomorrow, men might last for a few months but they'd be pretty malnourished after a while. Men can grill meat, yes, but we have to nag men to eat stuff other than meat and dairy that we cook for them, so they're not going to cook it on their own. :p

[Fintorah]

Yeah probably the disdain comes from the fact that they had uber feminist mothers who wouldn't cook, or cook decent food. Or they left the fathers to cook.

Men can't cook! If every woman died off tomorrow, men might last for a few months but they'd be pretty malnourished after a while. Men can grill meat, yes, but we have to nag men to eat stuff other than meat and dairy that we cook for them, so they're not going to cook it on their own. :p

Lol, I can't grill meat, but I can make mean cinnamon rolls, pies, and cakes :). I don't go for vegetables unless they're starchy, but that's just good taste.

What's the native cuisine like in Finland anyway? I'd imagine there would be a lot of fish, but fish seems like an expensive staple. If it stinks as much as Gordon Ramsay thinks it does, I can see why "ethnic food" (I hate using the word "ethnic") would be so popular in the cities.

4S-8gF9GFJo

[Magister Eckhart]

Luckily in the US I don't have this experience -- the majority of restaurants are, have been, and I dare say will probably always be run by whites, be they trailer-trash diners or 5-star urban ristorante. I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant where the owner is a Negro, and the only restaurants run by "ethnics" (as the popular parlance would have it) are "ethnic" restaurants - Chinese, Indian, Ethiopian, Caribbean, Afghani, etc. Of course you have clubs, bars, and restaurants that also cater to Negroes and coloureds, but these are neither in the majority nor to they cater to an audience beyond that specific ethno-cultural milieu.

Solution: move to America. We need more European immigrants anyway. :P

[Eldritch]

...

What's the native cuisine like in Finland anyway? I'd imagine there would be a lot of fish, but fish seems like an expensive staple. If it stinks as much as Gordon Ramsay thinks it does, I can see why "ethnic food" (I hate using the word "ethnic") would be so popular in the cities.


Actually there's no typical "Finnish" native cuisine, it varies quite a bit.

The first dish this prick tries here is from Karelia (south-east Finland), the second, the one he spits out ("bread cheese" with cloudberries, absolutely delicious), from the north-west.

I suspect what Ramsay is doing here is pandering to the stereotypes of the British lowest-common-denominator reality TV crowd (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3080), according to which (as far as I understand this) the less they know about any particular country, the more awful the food must be.

Isn't it wonderful how people prefer to use television and the internet to boost their ignorance instead of, you know, diminishing it? :thumbs up

[Absinthe]

I think it also has to do with the fact that "restaurant culture" is not part of Finnish culture in general, I mean people usually cook at home whereas going out is more associated with drinking :icon_ask:

[Eldritch]

I think it also has to do with the fact that "restaurant culture" is not part of Finnish culture in general, I mean people usually cook at home whereas going out is more associated with drinking :icon_ask:

Tr00 dat. Finns go out to eat fairly rarely, and it's still considered something of an occasion.

Fast food and ethnic places at lunchtime being the exceptions, of course.

[Matritensis]

In this particular case I honestly believe that the Finns are at fault here.It's awfully difficult to find a place in which authentic Finnish specialties are offered at a normal price(i.e not the typical chain restaurant for tourists).The number of good restaurants with an affordable price tag is close to zero,and I'm talking about Helsinki,so I don't want to know how the situation is in other places.Of course,the heavy taxation is a major factor here,so the owners don't have any choice other than passing the "savings" on you...just a semi-decent bottle of red wine costs already about 25 € in any restaurant,good or not.About Ramsay,he's just a fucking rude idiot (and being British,I'm sorry but he cannot afford to go around talking shit about other countries' culinary disgraces.I bet he also ate his share of beans for breakfast when he was young...:puke:) and I like leipäjuusto an awful lot.He's spot on about the mämmi though...

[Eldritch]

In this particular case I honestly believe that the Finns are at fault here.It's awfully difficult to find a place in which authentic Finnish specialties are offered at a normal price(i.e not the typical chain restaurant for tourists).The number of good restaurants with an affordable price tag is close to zero,and I'm talking about Helsinki,so I don't want to know how the situation is in other places.Of course,the heavy taxation is a major factor here,so the owners don't have any choice other than passing the "savings" on you...just a semi-decent bottle of red wine costs already about 25 € in any restaurant,good or not.About Ramsay,he's just a fucking rude idiot (and being British,I'm sorry but he cannot afford to go around talking shit about other countries' culinary disgraces.I bet he also ate his share of beans for breakfast when he was young...:puke:) and I like leipäjuusto an awful lot.He's spot on about the mämmi though...

I've mentioned this here bofere: if you want a good dining out experience in Finland (or anywhere in the Nordics for that matter), you'll have to pay for it. Period. Everything is expensive: rental, power & water, salaries for staff, ingredients, everything. That's just how it is. There's no such thing as a good, cheap restaurant with traditional Finnish food.

The immigrant joints cheat on taxes, salaries etc, which is why they're so cheap.

(which is why there is so much competition among them, which is why the owners of one of them tried an insurance fraud by setting it on fire in Tampere, which is why three people are dead)