Celebrating the Flavors of African, African-American, and Caribbean Cuisine
Black Restaurant Week – Portland joins this year’s nationwide tour, and the palate-pleasing showcase begins on Friday, 2/21 and lasts until Sunday, 3/2 for its fourth year in the market. BRW wants residents and tourists to FOLLOW THEIR FORK. The 2025 campaign is focused on restimulating local economies within the Black community by promoting Black-owned culinary businesses and professionals who cannot afford costly marketing campaigns. Since 2016, the organization has supported more than 5,000 restauranteurs, bartenders, chefs, caterers, and food trucks across the United States.
Founded in 2016 by Warren Luckett (based in Atlanta) and managed by partners Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson (based in Houston), Black Restaurant Week LLC is responsible for celebrating the flavors of African American, African and Caribbean cuisine with a series of regional cultural weeks per market. To date, Black Restaurant Week has expanded to more than 15 markets including Toronto.
Most businesses cannot afford marketing/PR/advertising campaigns; thus, Black Restaurant Week, LLC. was developed to shine a light on minority-owned businesses – aiding them in building community awareness to increase their bottom line at a fraction of traditional PR/marketing and advertising/social media campaign retainer fees, which can cost as much as a few thousands of dollars per month. The mission is to feed and fuel the cultural famine – especially with an emphasis on reviving and saving the black restaurant industry – and educate consumers on the abundance of cultural cuisines and dispel ethnic untruths.
The systemic barriers faced by Black-owned restaurants, such as disproportionate access to business loans, demonstrates the importance of Black Restaurant Week LLC. These disparities grew with the COVID-19 pandemic; 41% of Black-owned businesses have shuttered since February compared to 17% of white-owned businesses (University of California, Santa Cruz, 2020). “Since 2016, we aspired to set ourselves apart from similar organizations. BRW is solely guided by business owners and operators. They are in the trenches every day and experience the ebbs and flows of running a business during one of the most difficult periods in US history – the current state of inflation,” states Falayn Ferrell, Black Restaurant Week, LLC’s Operations Managing Partner.
According to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, 500,000 restaurants and bars are faced with an uncertain future due to lost revenue and increased debt over the past four years. Additionally, 1.1 million minority-owned businesses often face heightened challenges and disparities when securing business funding. The shocking statistics championed Black Restaurant Week to continue its efforts.
“Employee turnover is high, the price of food is soaring. From being overlooked for revitalization funds to inflation, most Black-owned culinary businesses cannot afford advertisements/PR/marketing to build awareness and attract consumers. That’s why we proudly do this at a fraction of the cost – it’s peer-to-peer support for 10 or 14 days (depending on the market) within each market and for the past 10 years.” shares Warren Luckett, Black Restaurant Week, LLC’s founder.
For more information about Black Restaurant Week, its events, and participating restaurants, please visit: blackrestaurantweeks.com .