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A neighbourhood success story

If the immigrant story is one of sacrifice, persistence and adaptation for a better life, Raul Senties, owner of Ole Ole Mexican Deli on 12th Street, is the embodiment of the immigrant spirit.
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Enjoy your meal: Marcella Pohlodková and Raul Senties in the kitchen of Ole Ole on 12th Street. Senties has worked in restaurants his whole life but says owning his own restaurant has been the richest experience.

If the immigrant story is one of sacrifice, persistence and adaptation for a better life, Raul Senties, owner of Ole Ole Mexican Deli on 12th Street, is the embodiment of the immigrant spirit.

Born in Mexico City, where there was very little opportunity to advance himself in life, Senties spent his whole life in restaurants.

As a young man, he moved to a touristy area in Morelia where he worked every job in every kind of restaurant except, ironically, Mexican.

"Families in Mexico cook at home. If you opened a Mexican restaurant in Mexico, I don't think you'd have much success," he said with a laugh.

In 1978, he got an offer to spend one year working at a Primo Mexican restaurant in Edmonton. Senties thought it would be a good way to learn English, which would help him move up the ladder in restaurants that cater to tourists.

But after one year, Senties saw a life of much more opportunity in Canada than in Mexico, even if he could master English.

"In Mexico, it's a very hard situation to get ahead," he said, noting that he would never qualify to get a loan, even for a car, let alone his own business. "Here, everyone is treated the same. There's no difference between one person or another. You have more freedom, more opportunity, more everything."

Unfortunately, his application for another visa was denied and he had to return. His employer though, wanted him back and sponsored him to become a landed immigrant.

"I was the last one. I was very lucky. I went back to Mexico and waited one year to come back. Then they gave me the good news. I could come back as an immigrant."

Senties stayed in Edmonton for a short time and then transferred to a Primo restaurant in Vancouver. He went on to work in other high-end French and Mexican restaurants around the Lower Mainland.

But as the years went by and Senties wasn't the young man he once was, he found getting work in the restaurant industry much harder.

"I felt discrimination - not for my nationality, but for my age. So I decided to open a Mexican produce store and deli," he said of the storefront he continues to own.

Senties set to stocking his shelves with products and veggies that were popular in his native Mexico, including his own homemade chorizo sausage, but he soon found there just wasn't enough of a Mexican community in New Westminster to keep the business afloat.

But his deli customers had some advice:

"People said, 'Why don't you cook?' I said I can cook, but only Mexican-style like I cook at home," he said.

Little by little over the next 12 years, Senties tweaked the deli until the groceries were out and enchiladas and chimichangas were in. The result: Ole Ole has become an icon in New Westminster. His wall is now covered in restaurant awards, which makes sense given the heart and commitment he puts into cooking for and serving his customers.

"My life is the restaurant. My life is talking with people. I love to see everyone happy. When you enjoy your meal, you enjoy your life, too," he said.

And therein lies his secret to success and his advice to other newcomers: if you give it your best and put your customers' satisfaction first, your business will take care of itself.

"That's why I've survived. There are no tourists here. I depend on the neighbours."

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