On a quiet suburban street in north Salinas, residents were out walking, enjoying the mid-afternoon sun.
At a house in the middle of the block a steady stream of people, including one dressed in scrubs, another in professional attire, headed to the top of the driveway, where in a cozy, shaded nook, was a wooden table topped with a strawberry shaped ceramic straw holder and a chalkboard emblazoned with the words, “Thank you for your support” embellished with little chalk hearts.
This is the site of “Palomas Cafecito” a home-based business operated by twenty-somethings Jennifer Perez-Garcia and Bryan Hernandez.
Started just over a year ago, the business focuses on specialty cafe’ drinks, ranging from a selection of hot and iced lattes, coffees and matchas to the creatively inspired—the churro and cookie butter lattes are best-sellers.
Drawing inspiration from Tik-Tok videos, experimenting with her Breville espresso maker and trialing recipes with family and friends, Perez-Garcia crafts and usually makes the drinks, she said, while fiancé Hernandez takes the orders and interacts with the customers.
“We take orders through Instagram, and he (Hernandez) made us an Excel spreadsheet where we keep track of our orders and the times,” Perez-Garcia said.
Unlike coffee shops with their usual opening and closing times, Perez-Garcia and Hernandez saw when they got most of their orders and were able to set a fluctuating schedule based on customer flow and their own personal needs—if they have to head out for an appointment or a little self-care, they can do that.
“The time varies on different days because we noticed that some days were busier than other days, and then there were hours when it’s not that busy—so, Fridays we open really early at 7 a.m., and then, Monday at 8 a.m.,” Perez-Garcia said.
The unique set-up is not for the faint of heart, one of their Instagram reels shows Perez-Garcia on a busy Friday preparing for the day’s orders, a whopping 130, but always with a smile and engaging sense of enthusiasm.
When it came time for the 24-year-old to decide what she was going to do for work, Perez-Garcia had learned the business from her parents, who own the popular La Paloma taco trucks in the area, and she knew what she did not want to do.
“I didn’t want to be stuck in an office—I didn’t want to be a doctor,” Perez-Garcia said. “I just wanted to do something where I could be hands-on and creative—I love creating things and I obviously love coffee.”
Young workers face a perfect storm of economic forces
The rigors of running your own business are well-known—the endless bookkeeping, dealing with suppliers and fluctuating costs due to macro-economic forces beyond your control and making sure you have enough customers to make it all worth it.
It can also offer autonomy, flexibility and agency in a time marked by uncertainty—the COVID pandemic showed that even the steadiest of jobs were at risk of disappearing overnight, and advances in AI and other technologies are on track to shrink the labor market even further.
Analysts have speculated that these advances will hit young workers the hardest.
In an interview to PBS News Hour earlier this month, Aneesh Raman, Chief Economic Opportunity Officer at Linkedln said that AI is poised to take out “bottom rung” positions and perform entry-level tasks traditionally undertaken by recent college graduates.
These starter positions were typically seen as a steppingstone for new workers, offering them the opportunity to gain experience in their chosen field and learn the requirements and responsibilities of holding a job as they built a network to help them move up the career ladder.
Already the data is showing there may be some cause for concern.
While the March unemployment rate for all workers was 4.0%, it was 5.8% for recent college graduates (aged 22 to 27) and 6.9% for young workers (aged 22 to 27), according to the Federal Reserve.
In times like these, entrepreneurship can be viewed as a necessity as much as a choice.
A survey of 18–24-year-olds by McKinsey found that younger workers are more likely to have multiple jobs, be independent workers and are more concerned about employment stability than other age groups, with over half (56%) of respondents saying they would prefer work as a permanent or noncontract employee.
Finding opportunity in challenging times
The COVID pandemic brought changes to the usual trajectory of youth mobility. Instead of young people leaving home for college or to seek employment in the major cities, many had to move back to their hometowns and figure out what to do next.
This was the case for Sebastian Gomez, 24, the owner of Cocina 1932 Cali Mex-BBQ catering and food truck, who in 2020 was playing football in Eastern Washington when the country suddenly shut down.
“We all came home for COVID and I began to post food on social media, Instagram, and people would always say you got to sell your food,” Gomez said. “The very first meal that I sold were Smashburgers, and on that Wednesday in 2020 we had about 185 orders.”
Seeing that there may be a future in food, when Gomez’s football career ended a couple years later, he decided to give it a go. By 2024, he was making food full-time, moving from pop-ups to catering, and now operating a full-service trailer that barbecue fans can find Wednesday through Sunday on San Miguel Avenue (behind the Salinas Bowling Alley) in Salinas.
“I chose barbecue because I just love barbecue,” said Gomez, who smokes the meat himself, using different types of wood to get different flavors. “Growing up, we always had the family over for barbecues. We had the chicken, asada, tri-tips, ribs, and we’d cook everything over the Santa Maria Grill.”
Gomez said he first learned his technique from his brother, who was the first person he saw prepare a brisket.
“I also watched a lot of YouTube videos and took a couple trips to Texas,” Gomez said. “Out there at some spots they actually let you go into their pit room where all the smokers are at, and you can see what their process is.”
“I just asked them a bunch of different questions and brought all that information back home and made it my own,” he added.
This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: In times of uncertainty young Salinas food entrepreneurs forge their own path
Reporting by Roseann Cattani, Salinas Californian / Salinas Californian
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
