I would like to thank my Professors at Hannam University to help me find the

participated in the study none of them had an exclusive ethnic market. All the 
participants in this research admitted that their ethnic community and ethnic 
network has no significant impact over their survival. The respondents 
confirmed that most of the customers who dine in at their restaurants are 
from various ethnicities and backgrounds. They also expressed lack of trust 
on their co-ethnic community members but they acknowledged that 
communication becomes easier with co-ethnic members. They also 
communicated their lack of trust on ethnic community due to some specific 
behavioral patterns that make it difficult to define professional boundaries. 
Moreover, they accepted that despite the fact they are offering cultural foods 
they often have customers from other nationalities, which makes it clear that 
ethnic cuisine is not exclusively for co-ethnic community only. All the five 
participants had ethnic cuisines.
4.5.1 Reasoning behind non-confirmation of Ethnic Market as survival 
factor 
In our findings all informants indicated that the survival of their businesses 
doesn
’
t require an exclusive ethnic market niche and they made the following 
statements to support that stance:

“
People who step in your restaurant have a certain set of 
expectations and usually they know what they are coming for. If 
people enter in Indian restaurant, no matter what ethnicity they 
belong to, it is obvious that they are familiar with the taste. When it 
comes to Koreans not all of them are open to exotic foreign tasting 
food but many of them are familiar with India which makes it easier to 
break the borders and attract the locals. In general, I have hosted 
many foreigners from various colors and ethnicities so I cannot say 

---

45 
my restaurants
’
food is exclusively for Indians only because I have 
more foreigners than Indians
”
. (Case 1) 

“
I see different ethnicities every other day and many people come not 
only for food but also we end up making business relations sometimes 
with people looking for restaurants to work as a trading partner with
”
. 
(Case 3) 
Among respondents 2 of them annotated as Case 2 and Case 5 indicated an 
interesting factor when they were asked about ethnic market niches. They 
made the following statements: 

“
I host customers from various nationalities but I can say that I still 
have a market niche because I am Muslim and I never allowed people 
to drink alcohol at my restaurant. I ended up cancelling a big event 
and lost some money because my guests asked for alcohol and I told 
them not to drink at my venue. I had an argument with them but I 
knew that as a Muslim I was doing the right thing. I became known 
for this and was highly trusted by fellow Muslims from Malaysia, 
Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh etc. People come to my 
restaurant with an expectation of eating Halal food made of Halal 
ingredients and I take pride in that. Although I couldn
’
t name my 
restaurant as an Indian restaurant for marketing purposes but I am 
happy that people know me and trust on me which took several 
years.
”
(Case 2) 

“
I don
’
t allow people to drink alcohol at my restaurant and even if 
they want to, I politely tell them to drink outside. I can say that 
although I attract various nationalities to eat at my restaurant but 
having no availability of alcohol pushes the customers away 
especially Koreans who like to drink beer or other alcoholic drinks 
with their food
”
. (Case 5)

---

46 
4.6 Ethnic labor and ethnic emotional support 
Proposition No 2a: The larger the size of the ethnic
labor pool, the better the survival of the business of
the necessity immigrant entrepreneur.
Proposition No 2b: The higher the level of the ethnic emotional
support, the better the survival of the business of the necessity 
immigrant entrepreneur. 
Result: Proposition 2 is partially confirmed. Among our participants 2 of the 
immigrant entrepreneurs confirmed that their employees are from co-ethnic 
community. They gave the following reasons for the preference of hiring co-
ethnic employees
1.
It is easier to communicate with co-ethnic employees because their 
chefs in the kitchen don
’
t speak Korean language or English 
2.
Helping the community members to secure a job because they hold 
empathy for them 
3.
Trustworthiness on their co-ethnic community members on a foreign 
land because they feel a sense of brotherhood for people from their