Old South Goes With the Wind: Entrepreneur and His Workers Reflect Region’s Racial Transformation
Indians now own 60 of the 208 Dairy Queens in Georgia. Half of Riz’s workforce is Indian. “Forget the white kids with the studs in the tongue,” Riz says. “Indians are gonna work for you. At the beginning, they work for minimum wage. Then little raise, little raise, slowly, slowly. Everyone live together; they are saving money, six people in household working, they bank 80 percent of their money and use 20 percent for expenses. They don’t drink, no clubs, no fancy clothes. Suddenly, they have $60,000 in the bank. Then they will buy the Subway or the Blimpie.”
But Riz worries about the second generation. No vision. Where’s the next young entrepreneur ready to climb out of the low-wage landscape? “These people just want to be the Riz,” says Riz with concern. “You can’t copy the Riz. You must build your own entity. The second generation wants the short cut.”