The Chronicle’s new, exhaustive list of black-owned Bay Area restaurants is just one of many resources available to support minority-owned shops, eateries, and service providers.
You’re surely aware of and heartbroken over the triple-tragedy affecting small businesses nationwide, and particularly black-owned businesses: the decimation of business caused by nearly three months of shelter-in-place orders, the emotional toll of seeing George Floyd killed at the hands of police, and the monumental property damage from the resulting civic unrest. These are all complicated matters that may take years to resolve, but one simple way to foster the healing is to just buy from local, black-owned small businesses. A ton of resources to this end have popped up or gained popularity over the last week, and we’ve listed as many as possible in this post. Keep in mind you may be able to dine there in person too, effective June 15 in San Francisco, when Phase 2.5 of the city's reopening will allow limited outdoor dining.
apropos of, well, everything, here’s a directory of Black-owned restaurants and pop-ups in the Bay Area. let me know if anyone’s missing. ✌🏼https://t.co/Tkl79e1FsS
— Soleil Ho (@hooleil) May 31, 2020
The one that’s really taken off is Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho’s list of black-owned restaurants and pop-ups in the Bay Area Google Sheet. That list is free for anyone to view, though its quick executive summary is behind the Chronicle subscription paywall. The Google Sheet version lists nearly 300 black-owned restaurants in San Francisco, Oakland, and the greater East Bay. It also lists their websites, phone numbers (the real numbers, not the fake GrubHub scam phone numbers) and whether they’re currently doing take-out, delivery, or catering.
Black-owned eateries in Berkeley and Oakland open for takeout https://t.co/tuThqePvm7
— Berkeleyside (@berkeleyside) June 2, 2020
Eater SF expands on this list to include Berkeleyside’s aggregated black-owned eateries in Berkeley and Oakland open for takeout, and a similar Bay Area News Group list of Black-owned restaurants in the South Bay and Oakland.
Eater SF also directs us to the Bay Area Organization of Black Owned Businesses directory, which is a national list but does include the Bay Area, and is available as a download if you submit your name and email. It covers not only restaurants, but other types of small businesses and nonprofits.
People are yelling “burn down everything...” Well, some businesses can rebuild overnight. Burning down a Black Owned business plus COVID is guaranteed a permanent close. So, don’t touch the Black businesses, in fact support them more. https://t.co/md9DDjG1R9
— WeBuyBlack (@webuyblackcom) May 29, 2020
Because there’s more to life than just food. Several dedicated apps and websites can pull up the Black-owned small business near you, whether you’re looking for retail goods, specialized services, or entertainment. The app EatOkra serves as a guide to black-owned restaurants near you, and is a richer smartphone experience than all the above lists. WeBuyBlack is an online marketplace to buy directly from Black-owned retailers, and right now it’s booming with hard-to-find items like masks, hand sanitizer, and bleach cleaning products. And Official Black Wall Street functions as both an online directory and smartphone app that sends you push notifications when you’re near a black-owned business, and covers a whole range of niche services like accounting, fitness studios, or whatever Phase 3 activity you may wish to engage in again some ten days from now.
Image: Flavas Jamaican Grill, Trois C. via Yelp
