Black Restaurant Week is celebrating its 10th year in Atlanta. The citywide two-week event, which ends Sunday, aims to boost foot traffic to Black-owned eateries at a time when food businesses are strained by rising costs and pressures.

It’s a late afternoon on Cascade Road.

Angela Ingram and her husband Kysii, owners of Cafe Bartique, are serving pastries and drinks on a street that she says represents Black excellence.

“Every restaurant, the ice cream shop, everything is owned by a Black entrepreneur in Wakanda, Atlanta. So, you know, this is where magic happens,” said Ingram.

She says it’s been hard on businesses here because of food and transportation costs going up.

“The prices were high. So I had to call my vendor and say, listen. If you want me to order tomatoes from you, I need some kind of leeway or some leverage and some flexibility here. Like, what can we do?” asked Ingram.

On top of that, she says years of city road construction kept customers away.

“We invested our entire life savings into our coffee shop. So that means we’re gonna work it until we can’t work it anymore, period. We’re not going anywhere. We’re gonna do what we gotta do to make sure these doors stay open,” said Ingram.

That’s why she’s hoping Black Restaurant Week attracts some new faces.

Black Restaurant Week showcases the full scope

Warren Luckett is the event’s founder.

“For Black Restaurant Week, we want to be that platform that helps bring awareness to these establishments, gives them some marketing support, as well as drives revenue to their businesses for two weeks,” said Luckett.

It’s a tiered system, and the base level of participation is free. You start off with being featured on its Black Restaurant directory, and you can move up to partnerships with branded events. The more an owner can comfortably spend, the more resources businesses have access to.

“Atlanta is a great representation of what the future of culinary looks like, from some of the high-end restaurants to even the mom-and-pop; it really does represent the full scope of the culinary industry,” said Luckett.

According to the National Restaurant Association, over 40% of food businesses in Georgia are Black-owned – a higher rate than the overall private sector.

“Like so many other things, unfortunately in this country, like music, fashion, our food has been misappropriated as well. When you look at the culinary contributions of Black America to the culinary scene, we were at the very forefront,” said Luckett.

Paschal’s, The Busy Bee Cafe, and Mary Mac’s Tea Room were among the earliest Black-owned restaurants to feed Atlanta. These restaurants played a direct role in fueling the Civil Rights Movement, feeding our leaders and powering their engines.

“When we think about some of the things that we love today that are on our plates, they came from our history, and we just want to make sure that those contributions are preserved, and not just the historical contributions, but also wanting to look forward,” said Luckett.

Warren was honored with a proclamation from the city of South Fulton. He graduated from Morehouse. So it was a no-brainer that, when he was ready to launch his second city for Black Restaurant Week, he chose Atlanta. “And it’s been one of our strongest markets ever since,” said Luckett.

‘A testament to your resilience’

Pierre Williams, owner of Barrio ATL across the street, says the area needs the boost.

“Just seeing so many restaurants around us closing, just fighting through … you know, seeing all the struggles and still being here, you just being open as a restaurant is a testament to … your resilience,” said Williams.

He’s the only person in the kitchen right now as staffing challenges persist.

“We got another chef or two, but right now they’re both actually on leave right now,” said Williams.

Monday is his only day off. He says he sometimes makes around 2,500 to 3,000 tacos a week. He says while it has been tough, he loves serving the people who show up and show love to his restaurant.

“We really enjoy the rush. You rush us all the time here at Barrio ATL. If you see us not busy, come and change that!” said Williams.

Ali Lemma is the owner and chef at Ruki’s Kitchen at Terminal South.

“We do Ethiopian food here in the city of Atlanta. I kind of say we do fast, fresh, traditional, casual Ethiopian food here at Ruki’s Kitchen, specializing in a dish called tibs. So tibs is like an Ethiopian stir-fry,” said Lemma.

This is his first year participating in Black Restaurant Week and operating out of Terminal South.

“I had an unexpected eviction at one of my first food stalls in East Atlanta, and a lot of that just happened overnight, so I pretty much went from having a pretty stable situation to not having a home the next day,” said Lemma.

He says his faith and resilience have been tested as a business owner.

“It just builds me to be more, so, you know, I tell people, like, the more and more stuff I go through, the more invincible and just … bulletproof I become,” said Lemma.

Tandra “Tan” and Tony Hunter, owners of T&T Daiquiri Spot, a veteran-owned bar and lounge in McDonough, Georgia, that serves sandwiches, seafood, and a Louisiana staple. The Daiquiris they serve are frozen juice cocktails, like a slushie, mixed with liquor of your choice.

Hunter says they, too, have been tested, especially by food prices.

“Our cost has gone up at least 15%. As everyone knows, with gas and groceries, so has our cost gone up. But what we’ve been able to do is balance out just a small increase, maybe 50 cents,” said Hunter. “We are breaking even, which is a blessing with the economy we’re in.”

They are recurring supporters of Black Restaurant Week and say they always look forward to the entrepreneur community coming together at this time of year to celebrate.

“It’s important to remind others that, hey, we are here, we are small in number, but we still need the support of the community to survive,” said Hunter.