Moving to Salt Lake City, wondering how hard it is to start up a business if you are not of the Mormon faith? (to buy, high school)

[BVB]

I have heard that Utah/Salt Lake City, is heavily populated by the Mormon faith. Is it hard to start up a new business if you not a part of their church. I do not mean this as a derogatory comment either.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Beats me. I have never asked if the owners were or were not LDS.

[jhwest]

Salt Lake city is not all that Mormon. I personally wouldn't attempt to start a business in this economy no matter what religion you are.

[irman]

Originally Posted by BVB

heavily populated by the Mormon faith. Is it hard to start up a new business if you not a part of their church.

Just do not try to sell any religious stuff ....

OTOH, it think it all depends on what kind of business you will try to run here.

[Lmejh]

No, no, I know plenty of non-LDS business owners. Don't worry about it.

[Tim Tim Tim]

im planing on starting one in the next year or so and im not lds. I dont think people mind as long as your a good person doing good business. Being lds might also help because of the networking so in that sense it may be harder but I dont think it would really be a problem

[alexei27]

Don't try to sell garments and you'll be fine.

It is a pretty business friendly city from what I have noticed. Downtown SLC is more watered down than many of the suburbs...but other than networking with the church I don't see being non-LDS as being a disadvantage. There are many other economic reasons for a business to fail.

[sissyjupe]

Salt Lake proper is more secular than the surrounding suburbs (if this has anything to do with the type of business you are thinking of). However, I think the general responses you're getting are true--no one asks, no one cares, it's all about finding a niche in the market.

[RunningWild]

Hopefully I haven't posted this twice. I am new to this blog. Anyway...

I completely disagree with the other writers. It DOES matter that you aren't Mormon. People do ask. People do care. You will experience discrimination. Now, I will agree that it may depend on the business and maybe you will luckily find a niche, but even so, you may still have problems. If you don't struggle business-wise, then you will struggle socially. It is a different world out here. Don't kid yourself. If you aren't Mormon, like the majority, you will stuggle a little more. Think about it.....here's an analogy. Let's say you live in NYC. You want to buy a hot dog and you notice 2 stands. One is run by a complete stranger and the other (well, my goodness!) is run by an old high school class mate. Who do you think you will decide to support? Of course, you will buy your hot dog from the old high school class mate, won't you? That is what it is like here. Business is conducted at church. It is common knowledge. It just happens. The Mormons can't admit it, but it happens every day. I have a legal business that I've been running for over 12 years, here in SLC. I also have businesses in other states. In Utah, all of my clients are non-Mormon. Not one is Mormon. I didn't decide that. It just happened. (I'll take business from any one!) Sadly, your family will also experience this division. You can't be a fence sitter. You will be one or the other - Mormon or Non. If you are Non, your kids will feel the discrimination in one way or another. Also, in my experience as a business person, we have noticed that Utah people, in general, do not pay well. Frankly, they can be cheap. They are also not that open to outsourcing because they always have a "relative" that can do it. I can go on and on....but the bottom line is watch out and be very careful before you try to start a business here. Do your homework first. Check out the market very carefully and if you can, try living here first. It is a hard place to get used to. Good luck in your business!

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by BVB

I have heard that Utah/Salt Lake City, is heavily populated by the Mormon faith. Is it hard to start up a new business if you not a part of their church. I do not mean this as a derogatory comment either.

Maybe one of the 50% of the population of Salt Lake City who are not LDS could give you an answer to your question. Seriously, it makes me wonder how people get these ideas in their heads. I'm LDS and I have never even considered checking out the religion of a business owner before I frequent his business. I think I'm very, very typical of most Mormons in that regard.