A Chinese Restaurant and the Middleman group

 

Cited from https://www.zmenu.com/amazing-wok-columbus-online-menu/

This is a menu from a Chinese restaurant in Colombus called Amazing Wok. The menu is written only in Chinese except for the restaurant's name. Edna Bonacich introduced the middleman group as a theoretical anomaly. He mentioned that middleman groups are sojourners in their territories to which they move. They are immigrants who do not plan to settle permanently (Boncich 1973:583).

In the restaurant, all the staffs are Chinese, and in fact, they are all relatives. Payment methods could be cash, credit card, and WeChat. The owners, who are also the staff of the restaurant, do not plan to stay here forever, but they are uncertain when would they go back home. The restaurant is furnished in a simple way with low investment, so they could move quickly without too much loss. 

Some could argue that their profits and economic status may not put them as the middleman group. However, the restaurant is actually quite profitable due to its good taste and popularity among Chinese groups. The low cost of the food and relatively high food price compared to the cost made their income predictably stable and fine. Not much of the profit the owners earn is reinvested in the restaurant, indicating they do no want capital but liquidity. 

Middleman minorities are noteworthy for the acute hostility they have faced, including efforts to cut off theory means of livelihood, riots and pogroms, exclusion movements and expulsion, removal to concentration camps, and “final solutions”(Bonacich 1973:589). 

The Amazing Wok has also been accused on the internet of not having English service and for having poor service. It could also be accused of not hiring local staff since almost everyone working in the restaurant are relatives.  

All the characteristics above fit Bonacich's description of the middleman group, and it is interesting to see how such an example exists right beside me.