Call Feli Ortega an accidental restaurateur.
The daughter of a Filipino migrant who worked the fields and vineyards of California’s Central Valley, Ortega earned an MBA and founded Felicita Wine Company there in 2015, producing small-batch wines sold online. But when she wanted to expand her business with a tasting room, she discovered it would take a year longer than it would to open a wine lounge with a menu of small bites.
Faster, but perhaps not simpler. Speaking at Mastercard’s Small Business Summit in San Francisco earlier this month, she ticked off what it takes to run her restaurant in the heart of Old Sacramento: inventory planning, managing food costs, hiring, staffing — all in addition to winemaking. Even with her formal training, she said, “It’s all still new to me to run a small business.”
That constant learning curve surfaced repeatedly throughout the summit. Technology is evolving. The way shoppers discover businesses is changing. How entrepreneurs market, sell and manage their operations is shifting. How do small business owners keep up — let alone grow — as the marketplace evolves in real time?
“I’m trying to move into this lane where I’m working on the business, and not in the business,” said Donataye Ball, the chef-owner of Gumbo Social, which brings the classics of his New Orleans childhood to the city’s Bayview neighborhood and beyond.
Across conversations about AI, cybersecurity, access to capital and social commerce, a common thread emerged: Small business owners want tools that save time, strengthen customer relationships, improve financial confidence and help them build businesses on their own terms. And amid so much change and so much to manage, they just want things to be simple.
“You certainly didn’t start businesses so you could deal with spreadsheets and hiring and costs and inflation,” said Ginger Siegel, Mastercard’s small business lead for North America. “We believe that you started a business because of a passion, because of a dream.”
Here are three takeaways from the summit, the latest in a series across North America that Mastercard hosted this year — from New York City to Atlanta to Toronto — to help small businesses learn from experts (including each other) and explore the latest trends in commerce.
