Southland sites get the spotlight
Chicago Black Restaurant Week showcases south suburban establishments
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the restaurant industry hard, Chicago Black Restaurant Week founder Lauran Smith wasn’t sure how the annual event would be affected this year. But she had no doubt it would take place.
This year, the event, which kicked off Sunday and is in its sixth year, is bigger than ever. There are more than 80 participants, more than double from last year, including more than a dozen enterprises in the south suburbs. The event will take place over two weeks through Feb. 21. In addition, for the first time, Uber Eats is partnering.
Smith, owner of Elle’s Digital Agency, a digital marketing firm in Homewood, launched Chicago Black Restaurant Week to highlight and give support to Blackowned restaurant and food and beverage businesses.
“Businesses are suffering because they are not getting the business that they normally would,” Smith said. “I was even more motivated. A lot of people said Chicago Black Restaurant Week wasn’t going to happen because of the pandemic, and I kept telling them, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s going to happen.’ ”
Smith said she wanted to extend it to two weeks because of the pandemic, knowing several restaurants were forced to operate under heavy restrictions.
“I wanted to give them an opportunity to possibly recoup funds that they potentially lost because they couldn’t have customers, or what they did lose, I wanted to help them recover it,” she said.
Smith always holds the event during Black History Month in tribute to Carter G. Woodson, who founded Negro History Week in 1926 in the second week of February. Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month.
During Chicago Black Restaurant Week, participating businesses offer discounts on some foods and beverages. The website chiblackrestaurantweek.com showcases participating restaurants, has a link to online ordering and contactless delivery through Uber Eats, and promotes menu items. In the Uber Eats app, the restaurants are highlighted in a billboard with the Chicago Black Restaurant Week logo, and the app is sending out informa
tion about the partnership. Chicago-based My Block, My Hood, My City is also a partner helping get the word out.
The Chicago area “is blessed to have some of the best offerings of Blackowned restaurants in the nation,” Robert Kellman, head of Midwest Policy at Uber, said in a statement. Uber welcomes the opportunity “to give their businesses exposure to the tens of thousands of users on our app and help them expand their customer base,” he said.
Glynis Harvey, who co-owns Hidden Manna Café in Matteson with her husband, Mark Cagley, said they have participated for the past few years. The restaurant, which opened in 2014, serves Cajun and Creole cuisine and has seating for 136 people.
Due to the pandemic, revenues are down about 65%, Harvey said. The restaurant now employs 10 people, down from more than 20, but has persevered because it owns its building and generates income from space it leases, Harvey said. The restaurant also received help from a state grant and a Facebook grant and has benefited from continued support from some loyal customers, according to Harvey.
“It’s a really good idea that they are highlighting Black restaurants because we really don’t get as much publicity as the bigger restaurants and more mainstream restaurants do,” Harvey said. “It has a significant impact. I think people are reminded when they see the list (of restaurants). We’re kind of off the beaten path. We’re not on a main thoroughfare. We have our regulars, but some people forget that we’re here, so it helps a lot. It helps get out name out.”
Netphitria DeBerry, owner of Flavours Seafood Bar in Lynwood, is another participant. The seafood restaurant opened in May, has seating for 82 customers and employs 15 people, she said. The pandemic delayed Flavours’ opening and has hurt sales; during the worst times, revenues were as low as a couple hundred dollars a day, she shared. DeBerry didn’t qualify for a federal Paycheck Protection Program grant because the restaurant hadn’t been in existence long enough, but she was able to get funds from a Discover grant program launched to help support Black-owned restaurants, and she said she received staffing help from family and friends. Lately business has been picking up, and she is hoping for increased exposure from Chicago Black Restaurant Week.
“A lot of people in Lynwood don’t know I’m there,” she said. “I want the community to know I’m there as well as people outside the community and in the surrounding suburbs. I’m hoping to gain new customers, new followers, new supporters.”
DeBerry said she previously owned Tastee Café in Chicago for three years, which served soup, salads and sandwiches, and which she sold to pursue her goal of operating a larger restaurant enterprise. She said Tastee Café participated in Chicago Black Restaurant Week and benefited with increased business.
DeBerry’s participation with other Black-owned restaurants makes her feel she’s “a part of something big,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of it. I want other people to be a part of it and to share their love” and support for Blackowned businesses and encourage others to do likewise throughout the year, she stressed.
Syntyche Barnes and her husband, Antonio Barnes, are owners of Juiced By Shic, which they expanded from their Midlothian carryout location to add a site in Palos Heights last March that has carryout and three tables for on-site eating. The couple have participated in the event for three years. Both locations are participating this year. The business sells fresh and bottled juices, as well as smoothies, wraps and sandwiches.
Syntyche Barnes said the couple look forward each year to Chicago Black Restaurant Week, which typically has increased their sales.
“I’m excited that it’s for two weeks this year,” she said. “It’s more time for the news to circulate.”
Her long-term hope for consumers: “If you find a Black-owned business that you like, that you will continue to patronize it and make it a more consistent thing.”
That indeed is Smith’s mission. “I’m hoping that more people are exposed to the restaurants and start to patronize the businesses more and that businesses continue to increase their profits every year,” she said.