Celebrate June 11 by supporting black restaurants

Just as black music and fashion have been widely appropriated around the globe, black food culture has often been appropriated by the mainstream American food scene. From shrimp and grits to chicken and waffles to macaroni and cheese, many popular dishes within the United States have ties to our ancestors. This June Black Restaurant Week encourages everyone to experience Black-centric cuisine prepared by Black chefs at Black restaurants. Founded by Warren Luckett in 2016, Black Restaurant Week “is a celebration of Black culinary culture from across the diaspora.”

What began as a 25-restaurant campaign in Houston, Texas has grown to a 15-market campaign covering over 1,700 restaurants annually. With a mission to honor the contributions of the Caribbean, African and Black culinary scenes within the United States, Luckett founded the organization to revive the narrative of Black food while making it accessible to people from all walks of life. The organization will host its fifth event this June New York Black Restaurant Week, valid until June 30. In one among its largest campaigns, the organization hosts greater than 150 participating restaurants, food trucks, brick-and-mortar bakeries and specialty food stores, offering reasonably priced menus and allowing consumers to experience a big selection of flavors.

“New York has always been just an amazing representation of culture,” Luckett added. “For us, it’s just an amazing journey through different neighborhoods where we have the chance to learn about some of these amazing stories. And that’s really becoming our favorite part of this whole campaign – being able to shine a spotlight on these mom-and-pop establishments, these mother-daughter-owned establishments, these second- and third-generation legacy institutions that have really been the backbone of the local Black community for so long.”

As a Houstonian who grew up celebrating Juneteenth long before it became a federal holiday, Luckett says authenticity is on the core of how he and his team approach major Black holidays like Juneteenth and Black History Month .

Featured Stories

“There was so much corporate excitement around the fact that June 11 became a national holiday… and it came and went very quickly. For us, it’s like, “OK, no; we still need to lead the way in being intentional and authentic in the way we celebrate things,” he explained. “And what better way to celebrate June 11 than to increase revenue for small business owners?”

In addition to highlighting the complex fantastic thing about Black cuisine, Black Restaurant Week goals to assist Black-owned businesses thrive. Recognizing that always small Black-owned restaurants do an incredible job of preparing their menus and meals but lack the financial resources vital to expand them, the organization’s efforts extend far beyond designated Black Restaurant Weeks across the country.

In addition to presenting the Black Restaurant Week schedule across the country, blackrestaurantweeks.com serves as a directory of Black-owned restaurants. Whether someone is traveling to a brand new city or just on the lookout for a brand new experience, the positioning allows consumers to browse Black-owned restaurants based on zip codes, dietary restrictions, and more.

“One of the things we’re most proud of during Black Restaurant Week is our website…we really try to position ourselves to be a year-round resource for Black-owned restaurants,” Luckett said, emphasizing the importance of community impact.

In 2020, the Houston-based organization launched the platform Feed Your Soul Foundation, a national nonprofit organization providing financial assistance and business development solutions to minority-owned culinary businesses. With the goal of providing a path for growth and sustainability, the muse offers business development, education, grants and scholarships to marginalized culinary businesses and students.

“If you look at Black Restaurant Week as a glorified marketing agency or marketing campaign, the Feed The Soul Foundation is actually our business development arm,” Luckett explained. “Black Restaurant Week is our for-profit cause, and Feed The Soul is a not-for-profit organization that allows us to work with corporate partners to provide business grants, internships and scholarships, as well as help businesses affected by a natural disaster or any other emergency. kind of emergency.”

Through its Restaurant Business Development Program, which offers a financial stipend, six-month consultations, and financial and marketing readiness camps, the Feed The Soul Foundation has helped roughly 85 restaurants since 2021. In addition to supporting business owners, Luckett and its partners felt it was essential to provide back to struggling, growing businesses and the subsequent generation of culinary, hospitality and marketing professionals through scholarships. As such, over the past three years, the nonprofit organization has provided greater than $2 million in education funding, business development and emergency relief funds.

Later this 12 months, Black Restaurant Week and the Feed the Soul Foundation will release a “State of the Industry” report on Black-owned restaurants and hospitality. The organization hopes to make use of the information collected to further fund efforts, fueling conversations about specific needs for corporate and legislative support.

Ultimately, Luckett’s goal is to make use of food to bring stories concerning the black diaspora to the forefront. While most individuals associate dishes like fried chicken, crawfish, collards, etc. with Black Americans, the founding father of Black Restaurant Week emphasized that soul food shouldn’t be the one sort of Black cuisine.

“We are not a monolith. Many times people try to describe our cuisine as strictly soul food. And while soul food is an integral part of our history… that’s not all we’re about,” he noted, emphasizing similarities between diaspora dishes comparable to Louisiana dirty rice, African jollof rice, and Caribbean rice and peas. (*11*) he added.

Understanding the shared intimacy and affirmation that food can foster within the black community, Luckett feels it can be crucial to equally highlight the history that exists in lots of these spaces.

“Traditionally in the Black South, getting together for a family meal on Sundays after church was something we still traditionally enjoy. “(Once upon a time) there weren’t a lot of different eateries that we could go to, so the ones that were open to the black community really became havens for the community,” he said. “Whether it was pastors or civil rights activists meeting over a good meal to discuss plans for the next bus boycott, or even simple things like how we celebrate baby showers, anniversaries, brunch… we love a good time to get together (and) eat something that touches our hearts.”