Minority business owners reach out to all customers By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle From the restaurant industry to construction and hair styling, minority business owners in Green Bay are reaching out to a diverse clientele. Venita Hunt, a Green Bay hairstylist specializing in ethnic styles, said the techniques she learned growing up in an African-American household are in demand by people of many ethnic and racial backgrounds. "You have white Americans that have hair kinky, just like mine," Hunt said. Hunt, who has worked as a professional hairstylist for nearly two years - in addition to styling her friends' and relatives' hair for at least 10 years - described the style she left on one Caucasian client. "This guy's hair was kinky curly. He was blond, blue-eyed, gorgeous and I did locks on him, and they looked great," she said. She notes a trend among her clients. "Among the college age group - the younger, more open-minded age group - they are really into locks. I call them locks, but a lot of people call them dreadlocks. I don't see anything dreaded about it," she said. Some soccer players and other physically active girls of all races request corn rolls, what Hunt identified as another style traditionally worn by blacks. Hunt, who works at the Hair Loft, 1910 University Ave., aspires to own a hair salon specializing in ethnic styles because she used to be turned away by stylists who said they did not know how to style her hair. Hunt did not learn to style African-American hair from a book; she learned by styling friends' hair on the steps in their Chicago neighborhood. To be a licensed stylist, Hunt enrolled in a school that taught her how to style all kinds of hair types with the ambition of serving a diverse customer base. "I would never want anybody to come to my business establishment and be turned away because of their ethnic background," she said. While Hunt can do locks, microbraids and corn rolls with all kinds of hair types, hair pressing is not a style Hunt recommends for Caucasian customers. The heat used to straighten African-American hair would burn some hair types, she said. Hair pressing, the old-fashioned way, involves applying oil to hair and running a stove-heated comb through the client's hair; bringing the comb near the scalp without burning it. Electric combs are more commonly used for hair pressing, Hunt said, but many women have a story about hair pressing in the kitchen. The instant the hot comb touched her oiled hair, smoke clouded the room and her father would abruptly enter. "'This looks like Smoky Joe's Place,'" she recalled him saying. Her relatives, eating chicken at the time, laughed; it wasn't funny to Hunt. Having her hair straightened at the time, she feared being burned at the scalp. Hunt believes Green Bay has a market for salons specializing in ethnic hairstyles. Chris Swan, chairman of the Entrepreneurs of Color Council and owner of a construction company, Swan Corp. One, 1221 Bellevue St., said some services are more likely to attract a customer base of a certain minority, but most minority business owners strive to attract a wide customer base, which is more profitable, he said. "We're very interested in reaching out to a broader audience," Swan said. Among businesses, a referral club strives to connect businesses with others to partner with. Swan said it has racially diverse membership and is open to anyone. The club, Entrepreneur Network, has referred more than $90,000 worth of business among its members since it began five months ago, he said. Attracting business for one Green Bay Mexican restaurant means offering a menu with diverse selections. Raul Mora, general manager of El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant on Main Street in Green Bay, said one of the most popular dishes it offers is a vegetarian burrito. "I don't know a Latino that's a vegetarian," he said, but added the burrito, filled with yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers and more, is among the restaurant's five top-selling platters. On the other hand, customers visit Lee's Oriental Grocery, 121 N. Broadway, to find some of the most traditional ingredients used for sushi and other Asian cuisine. Amy Lee, owner of the grocery store, said a diverse clientele buys her products, including Mochi ice cream. Lee opened a sushi restaurant next door to her 15-year-old grocery business two years ago. She is from Laos, but said food from her country would not sell as well as Japanese food. "It's because people are not familiar with Laos," she said. According to 1997 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 3.7 percent of Wisconsin businesses were minority-owned, compared to 14.6 percent in the United States. FYI: The Entrepreneurs' Network meets at 5:30 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at the Bar on Holmgren Way, 2001 Holmgren Way in Green Bay.