Displayed on the corner of 53rd Street and Kimbark Avenue in Hyde Park and at 18th and Wood streets in Pilsen, Fernando Sotelo’s locations of family restaurants — 5 Rabanitos — are filled with people on a busy weekday. Having grown up with parents working in restaurants, Mr. Sotelo had always been familiar with the industry, but it wasn’t for years before he decided to give culinary school a try.
As the general manager of 5 Rabanitos, Mr. Sotelo values and emphasizes the importance of the people he is around, and he wants them to feel safe.
While Mr. Sotelo started off as an employee, with time he worked his way up. His father, Alfonso Sotelo, owns 5 Rabanitos, which opened in Pilsen in 2015, and the name translates to “5 radishes” — a reference to the owner’s past of selling radishes with friends.
“I would always make the joke that the restaurant is more of my home than my actual house,” Fernando Sotelo said.
Seeing his dad run the restaurant himself, Mr. Sotelo felt somewhat guilty and wanted to take some of the burden off him by helping out as well. While he had originally been interested in becoming a veterinarian, after that hadn’t worked out for him, he turned to culinary school.
“I grew up in this,” he said regarding why he made the decision. “I saw the ins and outs, I have an understanding of how things are.”
After some time, Mr. Sotelo worked his way up to a higher role, and eventually became the general manager of the Hyde Park location, which opened earlier this year. Now, he finds that people he used to simply get along with as friends share a different kind of respect for him.
“This is not just a job where I’m clocking in and out,” he said.
On the contrary, he describes being on call even on days off, working from home, and constant meetings, while never having a set schedule. Along with his regular responsibilities, as general manager, he must oversee other employees’ work, and be strict when necessary.
For him, one way of ensuring employees feel safe is the sign on the door of 5 Rabanitos prohibiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering — text stating “Everyone is welcome here except I.C.E.” This sign, which has appeared on the doors of several cafes and restaurants in Chicago, outlines the rights of private areas to deny immigration agents access.
“We don’t like the image that ICE is showing. We don’t like what’s going on in the country,” Mr. Sotelo said. “This is our part to promote good in the community.”
He thinks that at work, people should be able to focus without feeling scared, and clearly highlighting 5 Rabanitos’ position as unwelcome toward immigration enforcement, allows employees to remove fear from the back of their mind.
“We don’t want none of that political stuff here,” Mr. Sotelo said. “We’re a restaurant; we’re here to serve people.”
Today, he continues to manage the restaurant, which has been steadily growing in popularity in recent years, particularly since the opening of the new Hyde Park location. Peering into the restaurant and seeing the color-streaked walls and people noisily laughing and chatting, Mr. Sotelo seems to have achieved his goal of 5 Rabanitos being a safe refuge.
