(Editor’s note: This is the 46th installment in a monthly series speaking with minority business owners and leaders. Each will be asked their views on minority-business conditions in the state and for ways to improve those businesses’ chances for success.)
In a way, Providence Brewing Co. owner Efren Hidalgo thinks of himself as the business’s “re-founder.”
When Hidalgo launched the brewery in 2018, he wanted to keep its name simple. But when he first decided to go by Providence Brewing, he didn’t realize the title already had a deep history in the Ocean State – and a story that bears a resemblance to his own upbringing and values.
The original Providence Brewing Co. launched in Newport in 1814 before moving to its namesake city and operating out of a building now occupied by Capitol Records Management in Eagle Square.
As he researched the historic brewery, Hidalgo felt a connection with the business and its founder, James Hanley.
Hanley, an Irish immigrant, “came here as a child and created something that incorporated the local community,” Hidalgo said, employing workers who “were from all stripes of life and tied the whole city together.” The brewery also expanded operations into Boston and Worcester, Mass., and distributed well beyond the region.
“They were a local business that helped grow the community and improve the economic standing of the city,” Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo sees echoes of this story in his own childhood: His parents moved to the U.S. from Cuba in 1962, where they became teachers in the Greater Boston area and helped new Americans establish themselves in the community.
Like his business predecessor, Hidalgo opened the brewery in a different community, North Providence, and in 2022 moved to the Farm Fresh Rhode Island building at 10 Sims Ave. in Providence.
Now, he continues the historic brewery’s core operations while working to train an upcoming generation of brewers.
“Part of it, for me, is the Hispanic community is sometimes an underserved community,” Hidalgo said. “And there’s an opportunity for me to show Hispanic entrepreneurs who are interested in this type of business what it takes to start and run a business.”
Hidalgo, who started homebrewing about 20 years ago, also incorporates his Cuban heritage into the beers themselves.
“I found that Caribbean lifestyle is welcome, and I really kind of play on the things I grew up with – pineapple, mango, guava, citrus, banana, coconut,” he said. “All these wonderful flavors, aromas and textures, and finding ways to introduce them into our products, whether it’s through bioengineered hops, yeasts or actual fruit purées.”
In addition to the unexpected history behind the business’s name, Hidalgo discovered a previously unknown, and far more recent, connection to brewing in his family history: Upon sharing his business plans, Hidalgo learned that his father had worked at a brewery in Cuba.
“That was an aha moment for me, where I realized I’m carrying on a family tradition,” Hidalgo said.
1. Do you believe racism is keeping minorities from starting businesses in the Ocean State or succeeding when they do? No, but I do believe that there is a great deal of information located in different places, which makes it difficult for people to find. Unfortunately, there is no single source of information that a small-business owner, let alone a minority small-business owner, can use in order to be successful. The barriers tend to be not knowing who to turn to when difficult questions or situations come up. But I do not feel that the Ocean State prohibits or impedes the success of minority business owners. Everyone I have ever dealt with or spoken to has gone out of their way in many cases to assist me. There are many minorities working at the state level who are more than eager to help another minority succeed.
2. How dependent is your business on the support of other minority groups? Is that a sustainable business model? Breweries on average are agnostic of race, creed, religion, color of skin, ethnicity or sexual orientation. I encourage all minority groups to be a part of our community, specifically hiring minority vendors to participate in events that we have. The Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is a great example of a source of information and networking that all Hispanic small-business owners should take advantage of.
3. What one thing could Rhode Island do to boost the odds for minority-owned business success? That’s hard to say because I think it is difficult regardless of status. But I think getting the word out to groups like the Chamber of Commerce that our business is a place where other minority business owners can come and network is a start. The other part of it, too, is the fact that businesses like mine need to proudly state that they are minority owned and operated. I believe it’s a full life cycle of information that needs to be available and repeatedly encouraged in our messaging, as well as on social channels and through word of mouth.
4. Have you had to turn somewhere other than a bank for a loan? Do you believe the state’s lending institutions generally treat minorities fairly? I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Through that program, I was able to make connections with the Community Investment Corp. and it was through CIC and Buck Harris that I was able to obtain a small-business loan to help me grow. Through organizations [such as] the Rhode Island Small Business Coalition, RI SCORE, the Northern Rhode Island Chamber [of Commerce] and the Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber and the like, I was able to tap into information I needed to help me understand how to run a business.
5. If another minority entrepreneur asked you where they could turn to for support for their business, where would you direct them?My answer will always be, do your re h. Figure out who you want to be as a business owner, what your business can do to help serve the community, then research businesses and business owners that match your goals. From there, go talk to them. Ask them questions. Ask them where they failed and what they learned from those mistakes, then ask them what they did differently the next time. We, as business owners, love to talk about what we could’ve done differently. From there, reach out to those groups that I mentioned above and ask more questions. Find a mentor and learn. But most of all, find a mentor that is passionate about what they do because that passion should match yours. Read. Read. Read. Learn. Listen. Fail often. Failure is important.