Here’s how two apps are connecting Black-owned restaurants with new customers

When Anthony Edwards Jr. and his then-girlfriend, Janique, first moved to Brooklyn in 2016, they struggled to search out meals that was snug and acquainted to them.

They explored their neighborhood, Edwards mentioned, however had a tough time discovering Black-owned restaurants close by. There have been few sources for doing so apart from group chats and casual lists. So, with the encouragement of Janique, now his spouse, he used his pc science diploma to create a platform for customers to search out Black-owned eateries.

The two co-founded EatOkra, an app that now has 20,000 month-to-month lively customers and introduced in about $700,000 in income in 2024.

“As we put it on the market into the world, we noticed individuals instantly gravitate and inform us frankly, ‘I have been in search of an app like this,’ and we nonetheless hear this to this present day,” Edwards, EatOkra’s CEO and CTO, advised CNBC.

They weren’t the one ones. In 2020, Brax Wealthy was in search of a method to help Black-owned restaurants amid the Covid pandemic. He launched Black Foodie Finder, initially as a social media area to spotlight eateries. Now, Black Foodie Finder has 1.3 million Instagram followers and spotlights restaurants, cooks and recipes in its app.

“I believe our impression has been actually huge,” Wealthy, CEO of Black Foodie Finder, advised CNBC. “We might spotlight a restaurant, and the following factor I do know, the proprietor’s posting on social media, ‘Hey, the place did all you new guys come from?'”

Here’s a have a look at how these platforms are showcasing Black-owned companies and Black meals professionals:

EatOkra customers can seek for Black-owned restaurants, caterers and meals vans based mostly on key phrases or proximity. About 20,000 companies throughout the U.S. are accessible to browse in its database, together with their places, consumer critiques, contact info and on-line ordering choices. EatOkra, named after the plant utilized in African diasporic dishes, additionally lists Black-owned meals merchandise in its market.

The platform provides two tiers for companies in search of to affix the database: a free Lite choice and a paid Plus subscription that gives extra options, on-line enterprise programs and more room on the app for $9.99 a month. Edwards mentioned the Plus membership serves as EatOkra’s major enterprise mannequin.

EatOkra’s present companions embrace catering firm ezCater and Pepsi Dig In, PepsiCo’s initiative to advertise Black-owned companies. It additionally collaborates with Apple Maps to assist produce native guides to Black-owned eateries.

The corporate offers sources on matters corresponding to advertising and marketing, provide chain and restaurant progress, mentioned Jason Wallace, EatOkra’s director of enterprise options and a meals service educator.

“It has been precisely what the impartial restaurateur wants,” Wallace mentioned. “There is a mom-and-pop side that must be refined in order that they’ll develop these CEO talent units, these COO talent units that EatOkra brings to the desk. And fairly frankly, it is refreshing to the operator to know that they don’t seem to be on the market by themselves.”

Ken Polk, govt chef and associate at Batter & Berries, mentioned the Chicago-based restaurant joined EatOkra a number of years in the past to spice up its visibility, particularly amongst vacationers who would possibly use EatOkra to hunt out native Black-owned companies.

“I believed the platform was ingenious, significantly this present day we reside in, the place issues simply get buried and it’s totally laborious to search out one thing,” Polk advised CNBC. “It is a beacon.”

Edwards mentioned EatOkra’s efforts to construct a neighborhood for Black-owned restaurants culminated in its Culinary Creatives Convention, which debuted in October in New York Metropolis. The one-day occasion led to 500 attendees collectively to construct connections, highlight distributors and focus on enterprise methods.

Essentially the most rewarding half, Edwards mentioned, was seeing individuals discover mentors and strike offers with different companies. He hopes to ultimately plan a multiday nationwide convention.

“This convention goals to be an incubator, be a catalyst for present and future entrepreneurs to come back collectively — to get the schooling, to get the neighborhood and the networks they want,” Edwards advised CNBC.

Jeremy Joyce, founding father of web site Black Individuals Eats, mentioned EatOkra offers a platform for restaurants that do not have the sources for advertising and marketing campaigns. He is found quite a few restaurants by EatOkra, he advised CNBC.

“What they’re doing could be very impactful. As a result of I did the analysis, and there, on the time, was no different app who was doing what they had been doing,” Joyce mentioned.

Clark Wolf, founder and president of restaurant consulting agency Clark Wolf Firm, mentioned EatOkra’s rise comes at a second of elevated illustration and recognition of Black meals tradition. He cited the 2021 Netflix docuseries “Excessive on the Hog: How African American Delicacies Reworked America” and the success of James Beard Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi as examples of the rising curiosity.

“That is at a time when in American tradition, regardless that there is a push in opposition to it, we’ve got been acknowledging Black historical past, African American influences in meals and farming,” Wolf mentioned.

Nonetheless, challenges lie forward for EatOkra and the companies it helps. Wallace mentioned fluctuating meals costs, President Donald Trump’s push for extra deportations and client disposable revenue all current potential headwinds for impartial restaurants.

“We’re nonetheless resolute in what we’ll proceed to do and who we’ll struggle for,” Edwards mentioned. “That is not going to alter.”

Wealthy mentioned Black Foodie Finder is a one-stop store for all issues meals and beverage within the Black neighborhood.

Social media is Black Foodie Finder’s “meat and potatoes,” Wealthy mentioned, and it usually serves as a gateway for newcomers to BFF.

“It is actually simply been a few neighborhood and, as we spotlight these individuals, ensuring we put them of their greatest mild,” Wealthy advised CNBC. “I actually can say that is been the very best return. It is form of the key sauce.”

On BFF’s app, which has 75,000 lively customers and about 15,000 restaurant listings, customers can discover close by Black-owned eateries in addition to profiles for native cooks and recipes for dishes corresponding to peach cobbler.

Heather Rose, CEO of restaurant consulting agency Black Ink Staff, mentioned BFF’s highlight on cooks boosts companies by creating entry to the individuals behind them.

“It places you straight in touch with the one that is the artistic driver behind the enterprise,” Rose advised CNBC.

Black Foodie Finder has beforehand inked company partnerships, however its present major income supply is its BFF Cookout, a meals pageant in Memphis, Tennessee, the place the corporate relies. The inaugural cookout in September, with sponsors together with Clorox-owned charcoal firm Kingsford, led to 3,000 individuals to Tom Lee Park for meals distributors and musical performances.

Wealthy mentioned it was essential for him that the cookout appealed to everybody, from households having fun with kid-friendly programming to distributors receiving honest compensation. The pageant will return this 12 months, he advised CNBC, and he is trying to increase it.

“On the finish of the occasion, our distributors got here to us and had been like, ‘Wherever you go, I wish to comply with,'” he mentioned.

Wealthy can also be hoping to construct out BFF’s media presence. The corporate is at the moment trying into producing quick exhibits and video segments highlighting restaurants, probably on tv.

It is a part of Wealthy’s imaginative and prescient for Black Foodie Finder as a go-to area to spotlight companies.

“Many of the companies and most people within the meals area, they are consultants at meals,” Wealthy mentioned. “Generally, they only haven’t got the platforms or help to develop. And so that is what we are. We are that help system.”