Serving up a taste of achievement

CHELSEA -- There was a time an argument with Eric Santiago would have ended with a beating. But these days, the argument is more likely to end with a chicken burrito. Maybe even extra guacamole.

In an attempt to draw Santiago and other at-risk youth away from the seedier side of the city's streets and teach them how to survive in the job market, a local nonprofit has set up a taco stand in Chelsea. Its employees are still learning to work together, show up on time, and make a consistently good product that will earn enough to justify the investment in Tacos Unidos, but leaders at the Chelsea-based social services agency, Roca, are hopeful.

''I'm not expecting Tacos Unidos to start fixing our bottom line," said Molly Baldwin, Roca's executive director. ''But it's another way to serve our mission."

Roca is going all in with the venture using $25,000 in loans to fund the business. It's one of a wave of businesses opened in recent years by nonprofits hoping to expand their missions and bolster their bottom line in a time of dwindling donations. In Downtown Crossing, Project Place has been selling homemade chili and cornbread to help fund a job-training and employment program for the homeless. In Chinatown, Boston Asian: Youth Essential Services features the art of its participants. And in Dorchester, Food Project is operating a catering business.

Other jobs pay better than Tacos Unidos. The pay is $7 an hour. Santiago, 23, could make more dealing drugs. His 23-year-old co-worker, Iris Lopez, would rather stay home with her 10-year-old son. And Stacy Foreman, a former MS-13 gang member raising two children, struggles not to overcook the rice and waste the chicken.

Without the job, however, Foreman, 20, would be lost.

''I'd probably be dead or in jail," Foreman said.

She was about 15 years old when she ran away from home and joined MS-13 through a friend. The gang immediately gave her a role. ''They had their girls that they used and then they had the girls that fought for them," Foreman said. ''I was the girl that fought for them."

She left the gang in late 1999, after several members were arrested. She became pregnant and started trying to piece her life back together. Roca gave her work and taught her to curb her aggression. In May, she became a Tacos Unidos employee, mostly in charge of cooking.

It's hard work, acknowledged Foreman.

But none of them could have imagined the effort that goes into selling a burrito, especially their leader, Sotun ''Tun" Krouch. At 21, he is charged with running Tacos Unidos and overseeing its four workers. About one month into the venture, employees are quibbling over who is working hard and who is slacking off. And, then of course, there is the pesky matter of making sure the business is profitable.

''Ninety dollars," Krouch murmured after counting the till at the taco stand set up in Chelsea's Highland Park. ''Not enough."

To break even, Tacos Unidos must sell $1,200 worth of tacos and burritos a week. Realizing such an amount wasn't possible from the two locations they started with, the lobby of the Roca's headquarters on Park Street and a used pushcart at Highland Park, the team split up and spread out in Chelsea.

Many of these businesses do fail, said Sarah Eisinger of Seedco, a New York-based nonprofit specializing in economic development that helped Roca train for the endeavor.

''Nonprofits have a whole range of . . . requirements," said Eisinger, senior program associate in economic development. ''They have to provide programs. They have a lot of constituents to serve, and for them to add this added issue of taking on a business is . . . major.

''Roca is not just there to sell tacos; they're there to train young people, so having that added driven mission focus is a challenge."

One evening, in Roca's kitchen, Santiago and Foreman prepared to sell in the lobby, where the customers would be Roca employees and volunteers.

''They're nice," Foreman said, smiling beneath her hairnet.

Out in the street, the customers have seen people from their past, and the encounters are not always friendly. ''Some people make fun of us. 'Look at the taco guy!' " Santiago said.

Foreman said she tries to be more hospitable.

''If you're mean to them, they're not going to buy any more burritos," she said.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.