How local community influences these small business owners

Small businesses offer a window into the unique personalities of their communities—especially for restaurants, who build strong relationships with locals. Whether it’s ensuring regulars can always get a table at peak times or keeping prices and payments accessible, local restaurant owners use customer feedback to inform specific business decisions. Here, two business owners speak with us about the ways their community influences how they operate.

A Seat at the Table

While the ubiquity of digital reservation platforms allows diners to make plans with the touch of a finger and helps restaurants plan ahead, they can make it difficult for locals who take a more spur-of-the-moment approach.

Happy Cooking Hospitality is a restaurant group that houses some of New York City’s most popular restaurants—such as Jeffrey’s Grocery and Joseph Leonard—all in the West Village. They ran into this issue when an early restaurant concept found mass popularity. Founder Gabriel Stulman and COO Matt Kebbekus saw that while the place was packed nightly, their regulars stopped showing up—they simply couldn’t get in the door as tables were claimed by diners well in advance.

Stulman and Kebbekus now cap how many reservations they’ll take at each restaurant, ensuring a certain number of seats are set aside for walk-ins. “We hope [our neighbors] come in a lot because we've set up a system that makes it accessible to them,” Kebbekus says.

 

Reasonable Prices No Matter the Popularity

Jonathan Peregrino, founder of JP Makes and Bakes, opened his bakery in late 2024 with the goal of bringing Filipino flavors to Detroit. While he hoped people would like it, he didn’t expect that fans from Chicago to Toronto would flock to his New Center bakery to try his creative take on classic dishes like Ube Cookies and Pan de Sal.

“The Filipino community has come out in full support,” he says. “[They] really appreciate experiencing the flavor profiles they grew up with.” A first generation Filipino American whose parents came to the U.S. in the 70s, he's humbled by the community’s willingness to travel for a taste of home—yet he's still focused on serving the locals right outside the door.

“People have told me I could charge more, but I am in Detroit, and I want to make sure I’m accessible to the community to come in and grab a treat and coffee—something people may not be able to do in other areas of the city,” he says.

Staying Tuned Into Payment Needs

In an age of digital payment platforms, business owners rely on direct customer feedback to inform the options they make available. Like many restaurants, Happy Cooking Hospitality’s locations have always accepted cash and cards, but they’ve evolved with emerging trends.

“People pay with credit cards more than they did before,” Kebbekus says, adding that cash use is dwindling. “But what has changed the most recently is that there’s a demographic that wants to use [mobile payment platforms].” After an uptick in requests from customers, the restaurant group added it into the payment mix.

Similarly, Peregrino knew JP Makes and Bakes would need payment options that meet customer needs. “Folks don’t carry cash the way they used to,” he says. He invested right away in a POS system that could enable a range of digital payments, especially as he has an eye toward longevity for the bakery and its relationship with regulars. “Our goal is to be here for years: to continue to grow, to build out a larger team—and to give back to the community.”