American dream thrives: Hispanic-owned businesses are sprouting faster than overall growth, census shows.

Publication: Newsday (Melville, NY)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Newsday

Byline: Lauren Weber

Mar. 31--Frank Minier was 16 years old when he arrived in Manhattan from Cuba, via the Dominican Republic. He spent his days in class at Louis Brandeis High School, and after the last bell rang he headed downtown to his night job, washing dishes at the cafeteria of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Within a few years, he was running the cafeteria. And in 2001, Minier and his wife, Elizabeth, opened their first restaurant, the Laguna Grille in Woodbury. Last year, with three locations on Long Island, Laguna Grille brought in $1.3 million in revenue and employed 75 people. "I'd always dreamed of having my own business," said Frank Minier, now 39. "I worked in private industry for a long time and then I said, 'I can do this.'" As debate rages in Washington over immigration policy and its economic impact on the nation,...

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