These patel motels are absolute flea bags. Truly disgusting.
How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
141–150 of 256 posts
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indian food is labor intensive and uses expensive ingredients. Restaurants are also low margin businesses that don't scale well and are super risky, not something I'd advise someone to do unless they have a passion for it and ability to fail and carry on with life. I have not been to a single Indian restaurant that can compare to a home cooked Gujarati meal, especially made by someone who grew up there.
I'd be thrilled if there were some restaurants that passed a much lower bar than that. I don't agree about expensive ingredients. Lots of restaurants (not all!) have figured out how to serve non-spoiled vegetables. When I lived in Singapore I lived near (and patronized regularly) a bunch of Indian restaurants that did that without refrigeration (at 1° N latitude). The labor costs are an issue. I cooked a curry with g…
For home cooking, pressure cooking makes Indian meals much easier. In a restaurant you'd presumably make big batches
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not (just) that most Americans feel these jobs aren't worth their time. There is a very strong individualist streak in American culture and a very strong taboo against lending friends or family members money for any reason. There are plenty of American families who have relations who could easily help bootstrap a profitable small business in the way described here. It just doesn't happen that way very often. Ins…
If I ever loaned my family money, I'd make them sign a secured, transferable note and then sell it off as quickly as possible. I'd rather extend a monetary gift without any expectation of repayment. Any money-related issue is bound to sour relations with your family sooner or later. Business partners that fall out can go their separate ways, but when your sister-in-law cheats her siblings out of their shares of the e…
The way to make loans to family and friends is straightforward. Make a small loan. If they pay it back, then loan larger amounts.
If they don't pay it back, you have the perfect excuse to never loan them any more.
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#144Awesome. I love stories where hard work pays off. Hats off to this family.
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's much deeper than "individualist streak in American culture". Western Europe in the last 1000 years or so has been a very unusual place... one aspect of which is having nuclear families not extended ones. Because (crudely speaking) the catholic church wished to diminish alternative power structures, such as clans. This led to an unusually open society, which had many benefits... with generally higher leve…
Unless you have some references, I'd call this a "nice theory" (to be read with a British accent). Spontaneously: * South America appeared to be more catholic than any Western European or US-American place I've visited, but family and extended family are still a big thing. * Calvinists seem to be much more "open" than catholics to me. * Damn, I want the secret recipe that lets me set a policy and enforce it in vast a…
By Calvinists I assume you are referring to Protestants? Or are you actually referring to Calvinistic Protestants? Just curious, outside of Christian circles and history I don't think I have ever seen someone reference Calvinists.
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#146The story totally checks out. I moved from Boston to San Francisco in 2006, did a cross country drive. Back then we only had flip phone, so I would use my laptop and The Microsoft Streets software with a GPS. Every day, around 3 PM, I would pull in into the parking lot and locate a Motel 30 or 40 miles ahead using the GPS and Streets software, and call and book a room. 8 out of 11 motels I stayed in were owned and ru…
My last ex was Gujarati and her father owned a Holiday Inn Express and a Days Inn. We both worked remote at the time and a good chunk of our relationship was spent staying at various hotels under the IHG banner for the "owner's rate" (a small denomination less than $1). Their network went well beyond any particular industry though. The first family friend to come to this country ended up in Houston in the early 70s,…
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Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#147Indians == cheats or Indians == Jugad (means setting, bribing)
You are looking at people flauting labor laws, not paying hourly wages, powerful guys in family taking all wealth et al. There are many labor, ethics, human rights voilations. Americans don't stand for abuse. Indians do. That's the reason why someone from outside can come in and have 50% stake.
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd be thrilled if there were some restaurants that passed a much lower bar than that. I don't agree about expensive ingredients. Lots of restaurants (not all!) have figured out how to serve non-spoiled vegetables. When I lived in Singapore I lived near (and patronized regularly) a bunch of Indian restaurants that did that without refrigeration (at 1° N latitude). The labor costs are an issue. I cooked a curry with g…
For home cooking, pressure cooking makes Indian meals much easier. In a restaurant you'd presumably make big batches
Pressure cookers make lots of stuff easier! They don't chop up vegetables though...
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, having family members work for you for free is legal. My accountant once encouraged me to try to get my family members involved in a business I ran just for that reason.
I think the question of age comes into play though.
8yo me would have been intrigued by this possibility. (This was on a farm.) As an adult, it seems that anything kids might do around the house, they might do in a family-owned motel. If there are laws against that they are bad laws and also inconsistently enforced.
Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think the individualist streak in American culture is better shown by people being unwilling to seek help from friends/family. And our families are, cross-culturally, unusually small. I talk to my parents every few weeks. Not so much my aunts and uncles. I have a few cousins who I see every fifth Christmas or so, and anyone more distant than that may as well be unrelated. This seems to be common within American c…
I think dispersion plays into this. I could hardly live farther from my aunts/uncles/cousins if I tried (living within this country) and the same could be said for a large number of them. It's a lot harder to stay in touch at a distance. I guess given social media you might say it's easier to stay in touch when close.
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