A Cuban entrepreneur and owner of El Kioskito Cubano LLC, a bakery and restaurant in the United States, shared a series of lessons she learned after starting her food business, aiming to guide other Cubans who wish to venture into the culinary sector.
The video, published last Thursday, is six minutes and 35 seconds long and was presented by the owner as an educational resource, not as a complaint. "Things I would have liked to know before opening my business, and this is presented in an educational way for those who wish to open a bakery, a restaurant, or something related to food," she explained at the beginning.
The first blow came with the taxes. The entrepreneur acknowledged that she was unaware of the obligation to report sales tax every three months. "We didn't know that as a bakery we had to report the rates every three months... and when we received the notification, it came with a very small fine and we had to pay 1,500 dollars for the first three months after opening our business," she recounted.
Another persistent issue involves the delivery drivers from the home delivery platforms. According to the owner, some drivers do not deliver complete orders or open the bags and take part of the contents, leading to customer complaints and negative reviews for the restaurant. "Unfortunately, we no longer have control over the order; once a driver comes to pick it up, the driver is responsible, and the restaurant is no longer at fault," she explained. To try to mitigate this, the business packages orders with security seals.
The commissions charged by delivery platforms are another critical point. "The commissions that these apps take are extremely absurd; they have been taking more than half of our earnings. For example: if we make $1,500 a week, they have been keeping $600," he pointed out. When he complained to DoorDash, the response was that those charges are related to marketing and service costs.
Regarding the registration process, the entrepreneur stated that DoorDash approved her on the same day she applied, while Uber Eats required much more documentation and took a week to approve her.
Among the practical tips, she recommended activating delivery apps with at least 30 minutes leeway before the actual opening time, to avoid receiving orders before being ready. She also warned that if an order takes more than five minutes to prepare once the delivery person arrives at the establishment, they can cancel it, and the platform does not cover the cost of the order that has already been prepared. She experienced this herself on a busy Friday: a driver canceled an order that took less than five minutes because the establishment was crowded.
The case of this Cuban entrepreneur in Miami illustrates the typical challenges of immigrant entrepreneurship in the U.S.: the steep learning curve of taxes, the reliance on technologically unfavorable platforms, and the extreme multitasking required of the owner. The Cuban community has a long tradition in the food industry, especially in cities like Miami and Hialeah, where many Cuban businesses face these same entry barriers.
"I am the owner, the manager, the cashier, the cook, the dessert maker, the cleaner, the organizer, the one who serves the customers; I am everyone. And lastly: I wasn't going to have an employee who didn't want to listen to me," concluded the entrepreneur, summarizing with humor and candor the reality of running a small food business in the United States.
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