"You need to accept the fact that for whatever reason, people choose to label you as a foreigner because you cook ethnic food, so you lose branding credibility.

"You need to accept the fact that for whatever reason, people choose to label you as a foreigner because you cook ethnic food, so you lose branding credibility. " The comment lost its value with that one statement. Was there even info stated by the OP that this was the case? I know a few very high priced restaurants in NY that serve high priced "ethnic" food and the owners are both foreign but NOT from the region the food is from. They're branding is pretty strong.