Nina Reed’s bakery products are popular, but that doesn’t mean running her business has been a piece of cake.
Reed, the owner of Sarcastic Sweets LLC food truck and café, launched her first storefront in Seekonk in 2021 after hitting barriers in getting a store opened on North Main Street in Providence – the got-to-know-a-guy hindrances she found difficult to overcome.
Click here to see related story: Everybody’s Business: Minority owners resilient in face of uncertainty
But just two years later, the Black businesswoman left Seekonk and relocated to the Lorraine Mills in Pawtucket, which she found to be a "more inclusive place" for all ethnicities and genders of small-business owners.
“I will never do a full-time, regular storefront ever again" in Seekonk, Reed said recently.
Now, because of customer demand, she offers walk-in store hours at her Pawtucket location one day a week, for five hours on Fridays.
And Reed is also focusing on the Sarcastic Sweets food truck, deliveries, corporate catering and online sales, among other things that her company has been doing for more than a decade.
Reed was one of the first 50 minority business owners and leaders who Providence Business News featured as part of its award-winning Everybody’s Business series of question-and-answer profiles that have run every month since August 2020.
Back then, the COVID-19 pandemic had upended daily life with lockdowns, personal protective equipment and social distancing. And many minority-owned businesses that lacked existing banking relationships were left out as billions of dollars in federal relief were distributed.
There was also the racial justice reckoning touched off after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, creating what some considered at the time to be a unique opportunity to level a long-unequal playing field for minority business owners.
Amid that, PBN started asking questions of businesspeople of color such as Reed about their thoughts on how much racism might be hindering minority business owners, if they believed lending institutions had been treating minorities fairly, and what Rhode Island could do to boost the odds of success among minority-owned businesses.
Since that troubled summer of 2020, have things changed? And what does the future hold with a new administration in the White House that opposes diversity, equity and inclusion policies?
By some measures, there have been strides made in leveling the playing field.
The longtime annual goal to direct at least 10% of state contracts and purchases to certified women- and minority-owned businesses was increased to 15% in fiscal 2024. State data shows Rhode Island exceeded the 10% goal in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
But a 2024 report on Rhode Island’s 785 certified women- and minority-owned businesses shows that not only did the state fall short of the new 15% goal, but the 10.4% rate was lower than the 12.3% rate reached in 2023. (The high-water mark was in fiscal 2022, when the participation rate nearly hit 16%.)
And a closer look at the numbers shows that the participation rate for minority-owned businesses was even more disappointing to advocates – a little more than 1% of the state contracts and purchases went to Black-owned firms and 0.66% went to Hispanic-owned firms in fiscal 2024. Meanwhile, 4.91% went to firms owned by white women and 2.81% went to Portuguese-owned companies.
In the report on the 2024 data, the R.I. Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion noted the disparity, saying there’s “a concern that certain groups within the [minority-business] community are falling behind and are encountering barriers that others, such as [women-owned] and Portuguese-owned business groups, are not.”
The report said the state can achieve the new 15% goal “through incremental progress” using “data-driven programs and regulatory changes that remove barriers.”
Keith W. Stokes, associate director of the R.I. Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said the report validated his assumptions that many minority-owned businesses face challenges “due to their limited business capacity and constrained financial resources.”
“The state is committed to helping these small enterprises grow sustainably, which in turn helps grow Rhode Island’s economy,” Stokes said.
‘DOING GREAT’
Many of the first 50 minority-owned businesses profiled by PBN since 2020 – from restaurateurs to retailers, lawyers to pharmacists, marketers to broadcasters – don’t need state contracts or purchases to survive.
Still, many could have used a helping hand.
Take Nic Cortes.
He opened Cortes BJJ LLC in Warwick in 2017, offering self-defense programs for children, teens and adults in a range of disciplines, such as boxing, fitness and strength conditioning, in addition to jiu-jitsu.
When he spoke to PBN in 2023, Cortes said he found starting a Hispanic-owned business in Warwick more difficult than it would have been in communities with a larger Hispanic population such as Providence. And access to capital wasn’t there, either. “As a minority, you must spend your own money to make your small business grow,” he said then. “I wish it wasn’t that way, but it’s true.”
Two years later, he has managed to survive and thrive.
In February, Cortes held a grand opening for a second mixed martial arts studio, a 3,300-square-foot space on Warwick Avenue. And the achievement caught the attention of city officials. Mayor Frank J. Picozzi cut the ribbon.
“We are doing great,” Cortes said. “We were growing so fast, I had to move into a larger space to accommodate the demand.”
And Cortes is not alone. Of the first 50 minority businesses profiled by PBN over more than four years, as of March only two had closed and one is in receivership.
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REPRESENTING: Lisa Ranglin has led the Rhode Island Black Business Association since she founded it in 2011.
PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY[/caption]
But for all the success stories out there in recent years, Lisa Ranglin says she is increasingly concerned that the gains that have been made might be lost in the backlash against racial justice efforts.
Ranglin, president of the Rhode Island Black Business Association, says federal data shows the number of Black-owned businesses in the state grew more than 62% between 2021 and 2024, going from 4,368 to 7,095.
Over the same period, businesses identifying as “Hispanic or a racial minority” grew 42% to 23,794, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. R.I. Commerce Secretary Elizabeth M. Tanner says the state has taken steps to help these businesses, the latest being a minority business accelerator grant program launched by R.I. Commerce Corp. in September to provide grants of up to $20,000 to qualifying businesses.
“In Rhode Island, we want all businesses to succeed,” Tanner said. “We will continue to support businesses of all sizes and in all sectors, as we always have, while continuing to monitor what happens at the federal level.”
Ranglin and her allies have long argued that racial equity in business is good for the state’s economy in the long run, affecting housing, health, happiness and the state budget.
“Sadly, much of this movement is being dismantled,” she said. “And all these things are still very much needed. Because this is all interconnected. What we need to do is keep ensuring we are leveling the playing field so that all businesses are able to contribute to the state and create wealth generation.”
Federal money historically has sustained many state and nonprofit programs for technical training and workforce development, Ranglin says, but funding freezes or cuts could do damage. She is worried a business mentorship program her group operates in partnership with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training will be ended.
“Certainly, with the existing climate and the current administration rolling back DEI initiatives, we are very concerned,” Ranglin said. “We may not be here in the future. We may not be able to continue this work.”
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UNEASY: Marcela Betancur, Latino Policy Institute director, says recent increased activity by federal law enforcement has had some effects on Latino-owned businesses. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
FEELING TENSE
Marcela Betancur, director of the Rhode Island-based Latino Policy Institute, says there is now palpable unease in the Latino community, which for years had been outperforming most other minority groups in terms of business creation and entrepreneurship.
A business owner may not have any personal worries about U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents knocking on their door, she says, but the same may not be true for their employees and customers.
“We’ve heard from local officials and business owners about how empty many [Latino-owned] restaurants and small businesses have been. Especially in communities like Central Falls,” she said. “For years they were growing and booming, and now some are sitting empty on weekends.”
Betancur says there’s a feeling in the community she serves that federal law enforcement is making its presence known. “That is what is the most terrifying,” she said. “There is a fear that ‘they are watching us.’ ”
The Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has seen explosive growth since its CEO Oscar Mejias was profiled by PBN in 2020. Back then, the organization had 193 members. Now membership has reached about 1,100.
This year alone, the Chamber helped more than 25 new businesses get state minority-business certification, Mejias says. “But that’s just a piece of paper,” he said. “The disparity continues.”
And Mejias says the Trump administration’s policies are grinding many businesses to a halt. Rumors are circulating that federal agencies are crosschecking Internal Revenue Service business databases. “The workers are not showing up because they are afraid to be out on the street,” he said.
And it’s not just workers. Mejias recently spoke with a struggling car dealership owner whose customer base is 75% Latino. In the last three weeks, several buyers never showed up for their appointments.
That unease can extend beyond Latinos.
Selahattin Sep, who grew up in southeast Turkey, is no stranger to racism and ethnic discrimination.
Sep opened Tigris Handmade in Bristol in 2019, a business crafting traditional footwear called the Yemeni shoe that has been worn for centuries in parts of Turkey, Syria and Yemen.
The business had already been fighting to keep its head above water, but sales have slowed down significantly since December, he says.
“We had been going in basically a good rhythm for a couple of years,” he said. “But at the moment we are really struggling.”
And his stress is mounting in the current climate. As if worrying about the responsibilities of a business owner – from taxes to insurance – were not enough, recent incidents have Sep concerned.
Just the day before speaking with PBN his store sign was vandalized for the third time in less than a year. “We had to call the police a few times,” he said. “There is definitely something going on related to the conflicts in the world now.”
But most people in the community are kind and compassionate, he says.
“I’ve seen both sides. It’s such a small percentage that’s the problem. Most people are worried about the economy and their own future,” he said.
In the meantime, Sep is less concerned with politics than his store’s survival.
“I know when people try on our shoes, they never want to take them off. So, I’ll do what I need to do,” he said. “But I’m not sure I’m going to be OK. You never know.”
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ON THE MOVE: Nina Reed, owner of Sarcastic Sweets LLC, is pictured at her former location in Seekonk in 2021. She has relocated to the Lorraine Mills in Pawtucket, where her store is open from noon to 5 p.m. on Fridays. /
PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
OTHER IMPACTS
Tom Chang, who founded the tea bar Charuma Inc. on Weybosset Street in Providence in 2021, said he and his business partners – all of whom are originally from Taiwan – faced no business challenges due to racism when he first talked to PBN a year ago.
He feels the same way now, although he notes that fewer minority college students are frequenting the tea bar. Charuma recently opened a second shop in downtown Providence, and rising supply costs are one of Chang’s biggest worries.
Raising prices is tricky when the customer base is dominated by cash-strapped college students. “A lot of our items have eggs as an ingredient,” he said. “We can’t just raise the price every time.”
At Sarcastic Sweets, Nina Reed is spending her days focused on making brownies, cookies, dessert jars, and “adult cupcakes” featuring ingredients from local breweries and distilleries.
She has built up her partnerships with more than 30 small beverage companies such as Pivotal Brewing Co. in Bristol and White Dog Distilling in Pawtucket.
“I make things out of their things,” she said.
But her thoughts turn back to racial relations. She thinks the plight of minority business owners in the state has gotten worse since she first talked with PBN in 2021, and she fears things might sink further.
“I’m worried about what the new administration is doing and the impact it’s going to have,” she said.
(Clarification: The caption with the photo of Nina Reed was changed to clarify that it is a file photo taken in 2021 at her former Seekonk location and that the store hours in Pawtucket remain noon to 5 p.m. on Friday. Also, the second through fifth paragraphs were revised to clarify that she has found Pawtucket to be more inclusive compared with Seekonk and that customer demand has led her to offer store hours on Friday in Pawtucket.)
