Elly Schnurman
won 1st place in our June 2025 Essay Contest with a powerful idea born on the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens. Inspired by the contrast between bustling fast-food chains and quiet family-run restaurants, she proposed creating a Local Food Loyalty Network, a shared rewards system to help small neighborhood restaurants compete while preserving their unique cultural identity.
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Her vision blends entrepreneurship with community impact: empowering local businesses, celebrating cultural heritage, and proving that innovation doesn’t have to replace tradition, it can help it thrive.
One Bold Idea: Feeding the Neighborhood, Not the Chains
Last summer, I walked through the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens, on assignment for the School of The New York Times program. I was there to find a story and I found one in the food. This neighborhood is known for its incredible diversity, with cuisines from Ecuador, Bangladesh, Colombia, Nepal, and more. The air was filled with the scent of sizzling meats and warm spices. But what stood out to me wasn’t just the variety, it was the contrast.
Fast food chains like Dunkin’ Donuts and Chick-fil-A were packed. The small, family-run restaurants were nearly empty. At 12:40 pm, Chick-fil-A on Baxter Avenue had a crowd of over 30 people. Down the street, Cafetales, a cozy Colombian restaurant, had just four customers. Lety Bakery saw fewer than half the daily traffic of the nearby Dunkin’, even though their prices were nearly the same.
The chains had one clear advantage: speed, digital ordering, and sleek renovations. That’s when my bold idea took shape. What if local restaurants teamed up to create a Local Food Loyalty Network—a shared rewards system where customers earn points across dozens of neighborhood spots? Add features like pre-ordering, group delivery, or special promotions, and local businesses could offer the convenience of a chain while keeping their unique identities.
This idea matters to me because I’ve seen firsthand how much these restaurants represent. They’re not just places to eat—they’re living pieces of culture, community, and family history. Losing them to fast food chains isn’t just about market competition. It’s about losing stories, traditions, and voices. Through entrepreneurship and leadership, this network could start small—just a handful of restaurants working together. I would help build the system, talk to owners, and get schools, local groups, and young people involved. It would be about creating something collaborative that benefits everyone: customers get rewarded, businesses grow, and culture thrives.
The infrastructure already exists: the food, the passion, the people. What’s missing is the connection. This idea began as an observation during a journalism program, but it became something bigger—a solution. A way to protect what makes neighborhoods like Jackson Heights special, while still adapting to modern needs. Progress doesn’t have to mean replacing the old with the new. Sometimes, it just means making space for both.