Black Restaurant Week LLC, the organization that celebrates the flavors of African American, African and Caribbean cuisine with a series of regional cultural events, is looking to help Black-owned culinary businesses across the United States that have experienced hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organization’s new No Crumb Left Behind campaign will assist Black-owned culinary businesses with complimentary marketing support to boost awareness in their respective regions. A recent study has found that 41% of Black-owned businesses have shuttered since February 2020 compared to 17% of white-owned businesses during the pandemic.

The 2021 campaign initiatives and virtual events from Black Restaurant Week include:

  • Free entry-level business registration and inclusion in national culinary directory on Black Restaurant Week's website
  • Black-owned culinary marketplace retailing Black-owned curated food and houseware goods
  • Aroma Culinary Business Conference, a day-long business development conference
  • Power of the Palate virtual national cocktail competition with Maker’s Mark
  • NOSH Culinary Challenges include the “Vote or Pie” challenge and “The Pre-game” tailgate challenge engaging professional chefs and home cooks

“The No Crumb Left Behind campaign is to ensure that we are helping as many culinary businesses stay afloat as the world recovers from the pandemic,” says Derek Robinson, Black Restaurant Week marketing director. “We are adding more activations and working with additional partners to present programming to serve our full audience of restaurants, bakeries, caterers, chefs and food trucks.”

“We had phenomenal success last year with the regional campaigns and wanted to continue that model to help businesses nationwide,” adds Warren Luckett, Black Restaurant Week founder. “There were so many testimonials from restaurant participants of how this campaign helped keep their doors open.”

Black Restaurant Week was founded in 2016 with the mission to celebrate African American, African, and Caribbean influences in the culinary industry, educate consumers on the abundance of cultural cuisines and dispel ethnic untruths. In 2020, the organization showcased 670 Black-owned culinary businesses across the United States and generated an average of 34% sales increase.