It could be said that every week in Atlanta is Black Restaurant Week.
With such a large concentration of Black-owned and -operated places to drink and dine, those fortunate enough to live here have endless options, offering residents what feels like an endless culinary adventure.
Credit: Courtesy of Black Restaurant Week
Credit: Courtesy of Black Restaurant Week
Therein lies the challenge: The breadth of options can often feel as overwhelming as a lengthy menu written in a foreign language. And while it’s great to have local favorites to support, there are always more restaurants to discover (and they don’t necessarily need to be newly opened).
This is what founder Warren Luckett hopes Black Restaurant Week accomplishes, in Atlanta and the 14 other cities in which the dayslong event happens annually.
Speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution while visiting Marietta Proper, one of 85 food businesses throughout greater Atlanta featuring food and beverage specials between Aug. 4 and 18, Luckett described the mission of Atlanta Black Restaurant Week as championing small food-oriented businesses.
“It’s such a difficult, uphill battle,” said Luckett, a Morehouse College graduate who worked as an analyst at Morgan Stanley before starting Black Restaurant Week in Houston in 2016, a year before bringing the event to Atlanta. “We want to provide a platform that really drives revenue and awareness.”
Participating restaurants for 2024 include some of Atlanta’s most popular Black-owned establishments, such as Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen & Bar in College Park, Gocha’s Breakfast Bar in Southwest Atlanta, Hapeville’s Pit Boss BBQ, Black Coffee Atlanta, plant-based ice cream shop The Creamy Spot and Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours.
Credit: Noah Fecks
Credit: Noah Fecks
Unlike the business model of some restaurant week promotions, Luckett says Atlanta Black Restaurant Week is complimentary. Some other promotions require restaurants to pay for inclusion, then discount menu items and serve limited-time offers to a large influx of new diners who don’t often become returning customers.
“For us, the restaurants don’t have to give a portion of profits. They keep all the revenue. We see it as an opportunity to boost these businesses. All we ask is for them to offer a special, highlighting something on their menu.”
Jordan Lynn Traylor, a Black woman, is the owner and general manager of Marietta Proper, a cozy cafe and brunch restaurant during the daytime that pivots to serving gourmet small plates and libations by night.
Traylor said for Atlanta Black Restaurant Week, she decided to feature off-menu specials to highlight her talented team of culinary professionals.
Diners who visit Marietta Proper during the event can order a special the restaurant has never made before: lightly tempura-battered Chilean sea bass, topped with caviar and sauce gribiche — emulsified hard-boiled egg yolks blended with Dijon mustard, capers, olive oil and vinegar.
The dish will be paired with an herbal, citrusy vodka cocktail, balancing the rich fattiness of the fish and its batter. It’s “a fancy play on McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish,” Traylor said.
“Anything that does well we’ll certainly keep it but we want to give customers something new, and let our regulars see what we’re running for the week.”
Credit: Thomas Swofford
Credit: Thomas Swofford
Exposing the creativity of Atlanta’s Black culinary community is one of the weeklong event’s goals, Luckett said. He also said it was important Atlanta Black Restaurant Week helped restaurants seeking support after the tough times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Luckett said he applauds the resilience of Atlanta restaurants and their owners. Watching many deserving businesses go belly-up over the past few years has been a humbling experience for him.
To this end he and his partners created a nonprofit organization called Feed The Soul Foundation. It’s purpose, he said, is providing grant funding to Black businesses owners and others representing historically marginalized communities
This year Luckett said Feed The Soul will give a $10,000 grant to FruiTea Bubbles Café, a tea shop in Smyrna owned by Lisa Lindsay, a Black mother of two and longtime Cobb County resident. In addition to the funds, FruiTea Bubbles will also receive six months of free business consultation, with options such as website management, human resources and more.
Black Restaurant Week now happens in 15 markets, with the participation of more than 700 businesses, Luckett said, and the event is on track to soon serve more than 100,000 customers.
Luckett is very intentional of not only including Black-owned restaurants in Atlanta proper, but those in suburbs such as McDonough, Jonesboro, Marietta and Kennesaw. This way he hopes to increase diversity of participants, proximity and landscape for any restaurant that wants to be involved, from mom-and-pop fast-casuals to high-end speak-easies.
“Doing more with less tends to be the saga of so many restaurants,” Luckett said. “We understand how vital it is to provide that support.”
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