Small Business Is a Big Deal for County's Asians : Enterprise: Rocketing receipts at Asian-owned companies are the basis for thousands of success stories.

By CRISTINA LEE

Aug. 2, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WESTMINSTER —

Soi Tran has come a long way from the days when he lined up at a welfare office in Pomona to get the government assistance checks that were his only means of supporting a wife and two children.

After fleeing Vietnam in a boat in 1978, Tran’s family settled in Idaho and later in Southern California. Barely able to speak English, he couldn’t find a job. It was a humbling experience for the one-time owner of a small Saigon bicycle factory.

“I didn’t like getting food stamps and money without working for them,” he said. “To me, going on welfare was like begging.”

Today, Tran, 43, owns Baron’s French Bakery, a thriving 5-year-old business in Westminster’s Little Saigon district. The bakery’s sales rose to $1 million last year.

Tran’s is but one of thousands of success stories among Asian-owned businesses in Southern California. Three Southland coastal counties--Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego--are among three of the nation’s 11 largest centers for Asian-owned business.

According to a federal survey due out today, Los Angeles County led the nation in 1987 in the number of Asian-owned firms, with 63,139. Orange County ranked third, with 15,407 companies, and San Diego was 11th, with 6,731. The 1987 figures are the latest available and include businesses operated by Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaska natives.

Although Orange County ranked third behind Los Angeles and Honolulu counties in the total number of Asian businesses, it was second to Los Angeles in total annual sales. In 1982, the previous time the federal government compiled figures on Asian-owned businesses, Orange County had the third-highest sales volume among Asian businesses, behind Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Receipts from Orange County’s Asian businesses totaled $1.4 billion in 1987, up 224% from $440.6 million in 1982. In Los Angeles County, sales were $6.8 billion in 1987, up 132% from $2.9 billion in 1982.

Several factors have spurred the growth of Asian commerce in Orange County. A huge increase in the county’s Asian population during the last decade created a demand for Asian products and services. Also, many of the Asian immigrants were business owners in the countries they left and wanted to do the same in this country, according to officials of various ethnic chambers of commerce in the county.

In 1980, there were 86,893 Asians living in Orange County, or 4.5% of the county’s total population. According to 1990 Census figures, the county’s Asian population leaped to 249,192, or 10.8% of the county’s population.

In 1990, the Vietnamese made up Orange County’s largest Asian ethnic group--33% of the 218,377 Asians in the county--followed by Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos and Japanese, according to census data.

The growing economic power of Asians is evident in the expansion of businesses that cater to specific ethnic groups. Dieu Le, president of Westminster-based Nguoi Viet Daily News, said advertising revenue grew tremendously in the 1980s.

In 1982, for example, Nguoi Viet averaged 33 pages of advertising a week, generating ad sales of about $300,000 that year, he said. That figure grew to 50 pages of ads a week in 1987 and 65 pages in 1990, when ad sales reached $1.2 million, Le said.

“Demographically, when there’s a large concentration of Asians in a community, sharing the same taste and culture, Asian businesses will thrive because they have a ready market for their goods and services,” Le said.

Junko Horii, 42, president of J&A; Insurance Services in Irvine, agreed with this assessment. She started her company in Orange County last year to serve the large number of Japanese corporations in the area.

According to a 1987 survey by the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in Orange County, many Vietnamese immigrants ran their own businesses and were used to a certain level of financial independence.

After moving to the United States, many sought to start businesses and become financially independent again, said Chuoc Vo-Ta, executive director of the Vietnamese Chamber.

Many Korean and Chinese immigrants became business owners not by choice but by economic necessity.

“Due to language barriers and cultural differences, many Korean immigrants have a tough time finding a job, and they eventually start their own retail and service businesses because it requires less English language use,” said Ho Young Chung, president of the Korean American Assn. of Orange County.

As a result, he said, Koreans now operate more than 70% of the dry cleaning stores and small groceries in Orange County, he said.

Soi Tran, the baker, said Orange County has an environment that encourages minority businesses to thrive.

His bakery supplies French bread, croissants and Danish pastries to some major Southland retailers such as Hughes Market( and Price Club, as well as the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“I feel I’m so lucky,” he said. “I think Orange County has brought me that luck.”

ASIAN-OWNED BUSINESSES IN ORANGE COUNTY U.S. Census Bureau figures sketch a portrait of Asian* entrepreneurship in the Southland. Of the 15,407 firms owned by Asians in Orange County, 77% are individual proprietorships. The data, gathered in 1987, was released Thursday.

FIRMS WITH COUNTY (rank) ALL FIRMS PAID EMPLOYEES SALES Los Angeles (1) 63,139 15,877 $6.87 billion Orange County (3) 15,407 3,937 $1.42 billion San Diego (11) 6,731 1,755 $442.28 million San Bernardino (22) 2,616 910 $293.26 million Ventura (28) 1,845 509 $177.13 million Riverside (32) 1,750 596 $186.42 million

Ranked by number of Asian-owned firms among all U.S. counties.

OWNERSHIP BY TYPE OF BUSINESS

The great majority of firms owned by Asians in Orange County was concentrated in the service industry, followed by retail trade.

Selected services: 7,707 firms

Retail trade: 3,502 firms

Finance, insurance and real estate: 1,298

Industries not classified: 650

Construction: 584

Manufacturing: 533

Wholesale trade: 449

Agricultural services, forestry, fishing and mining: 428

Transportation and public utilities: 256