Black Restaurant Week Returns to Miami

Black Restaurant Week will once again shine the spotlight on the Magic City’s Black-owned businesses.

By Nicole Danna

On November 10, 2023

When chef Noreese Kelly-Howard and her husband, Lavelle Howard, opened their Miami takeout restaurant Conch It Up Soul Food in late 2015, business was good.

Their Bahamian-inspired seafood menu was an instant hit with Liberty City locals, who flocked to the tiny spot at 4507 NW 17th Avenue for a taste of the retired teacher turned chef’s take on family recipes.

Years later, Conch It Up remains a go-to spot. Popular menu items include Kelly-Howard’s fried conch tossed in a sweet-and-sour sauce and a double-decker sandwich that stacks two fried pork chops between four slices of bread with lettuce and tomato.

“Before COVID-19, we were selling all these dishes out — we were doing very well. But since the pandemic, things have slowed down,” Kelly-Howard told New Times in 2021. “Since we reopened, it’s been up and down. For a small business, it’s been hard. We can feel it. But with Restaurant Week, we’re hoping it brings some newcomers to our door.”

Founded in 2016 by entrepreneurs Warren Luckett, Falayn Ferrell, and Derek Robinson, Black Restaurant Week began as a one-city food experience in Houston. The traveling event has since expanded nationwide and internationally in an effort to educate consumers on the abundance of cultural cuisines within their neighborhood and provide complimentary marketing and public relations services for struggling businesses.

Starting today, Black Restaurant Week will celebrate the continuation of its Florida campaign, now in its fourth year. The seven-day initiative kicks off its Miami leg on Friday, November 10, and runs through Sunday, November 19.

The platform, which has restaurants offer a special prix-fixe dinner or highlight a chef’s signature dish, also serves as an educational tool to show consumers the abundance of cultural cuisines in their local community, often highlighting African-American, African, and Caribbean cuisine.

According to Luckett, the odds are continuously stacked against Black-owned culinary businesses, many of whom are still recovering from the pandemic while simultaneously coping with recent inflation.

While it may not feel like it in Miami, Luckett points to sobering statistic: In 2022, there were roughly 72,000 fewer restaurants compared to 2019, according to data from Technomic, a restaurant research firm. That number is expected to fall even further, with overall U.S. restaurant numbers not expected to return to pre-COVID levels by 2026.

Furthermore, according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, an estimated 500,000 restaurants and bars continue to face an uncertain future due to lost revenue and increased debt over the past two years.

“COVID-19 has really changed the culinary landscape since 2020, from being overlooked for revitalization funds to inflation, and most Black-owned culinary businesses cannot afford advertisements, public relations, or marketing to build awareness and attract consumers,” Luckett says in a press release. “That’s why we proudly do this for free – it’s peer-to-peer support for ten or 14 days within each market and the past eight years.”

Since its inception, the organization has supported more than 3,000 restauranteurs, bartenders, chefs, caterers, and food trucks. Last year, the organization showcased 1,250 Black-owned culinary businesses across the United States — including Toronto and Vancouver — while generating an average 15 percent sales increase at each establishment.

This year, the event highlights South Florida and Miami Black business owners like Crabs-R-Us, Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, Lovely’s Urban Fusion, Pretty Healthy Café, Rosie’s, Showtime Catering, World Famous House of Mac, ConchItUp SoulFood, Lil Greenhouse Grill, and Pineapple Express Bar. The full list of participating restaurants can be found on the campaign’s website.

Participating restaurants can join at no cost and benefit from the campaign by receiving marketing materials to place within their establishment, digital assets to share online and on their respective social media platforms, and an opportunity to be interviewed or mentioned in local media outlets.

The 2023 campaign initiatives include free entry-level business registration and inclusion in the national culinary directory organization’s website, small business grants, and business development training from Black Restaurant Week’s nonprofit, Feed the Soul Foundation.

“Since 2016, we’ve aspired to set ourselves apart from similar organizations,” Ferrell shares in a press release. “This campaign 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 U.S. history.”

This piece was republished from the Miami New Times.