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Business is looking good at El Fat Cat Grill in Kennewick.

Felix Sanchez, who opened the restaurant three months ago, said it has attracted a diverse group of customers to the Mexican-infused American restaurant, where everything is made from scratch.

He is one of what the U.S. Census Bureau said is a growing number of Hispanic business owners in the Tri-Cities.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Benton and Franklin counties grew by 33 percent between 2002 and 2007, according to census bureau data released this month.

Franklin County grew from 613 Hispanic-owned businesses to 846, while Benton County jumped from 479 to 603.

Together, the counties had about 8 percent of all the Hispanic-owned businesses in the state by 2007, when the census did its survey of business owners. The state saw a 73 percent increase in the number of Hispanic-owned businesses to 17,795.

Sanchez said he is hoping his hard work will pay off. Whether El Fat Cat Grill is open for years, well, that will be up to its customers and the community.

The restaurant is family-run, although he thinks they likely will need to add an employee within the next month.

"It was hard," he said. "I'm not going to say it was easy."

But, as a small-business owner, he said it's important to stay true to what he wants to offer the community. READ MORE