Georgia's Venezuelan Food Businesses Are Closing. Here's the Data Behind It.

Gustavo Mendez poses prepares venezuelan food at the restaurant where he works, in the Queens borough of New York City, on October 18, 2024. (Credit: Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

Laurinda Pestana built her food business in Georgia the way most immigrant entrepreneurs do — one early morning at a time, one employee at a time. This fall, she shut it down.

Her closure is not a fluke of the market. It is one more data point in a wave quietly dismantling the fastest-growing business segment in America.