The Black Business Fund, set up by Uber Eats in collaboration with Be Inclusive Hospitality and Enterprise Nation, is distributing £50,000 to 10 small black-owned businesses across the country impacted by the pandemic.
Over 150 restaurants applied for the fund, with those selected representing a cross-section of the most innovative and exciting Black-owned restaurants in the country.
Businesses to receive funds are London-based The Breakhouse Cafe, Jam Delish, The Flygerians, TribeV, Drums and Flats, The Guava Kitchen, Issa Vibe, and Bando Belly as well as well as Dirty Kitch in Coventry and Vegan Shack UK in Manchester.
The Guava Kitchen founder Jenny Campbell gave up a corporate career to launch her brand of vegan Caribbean food, which debuted as an East End stall convinced before opening a site in Forest Hill just before the pandemic struck.
“At first, I knew nothing about hospitality, so when I said I wanted to open a restaurant everyone I knew said don’t do it,” she says. “The pandemic had a severe impact on the business but now we can push forward with our vision of showcasing the best Black vegan food products from around the world.
“Being a Black female business owner, it’s important to me to support a realistic demographic of my local area and set a strong example to young Black people. Around 80% of my young team is made of people from Black or ethnic minority backgrounds. This investment will help us to invest in young local talent.”
Danielle Saunders (pictured), owner of Dirty Kitch, was nine months pregnant when she opened her restaurant in late 2019. “Starting a business before the pandemic has been incredibly challenging but we’re so proud of what we’ve managed to achieve. We did everything with a limited budget and depended heavily on the support of the community around us. This support will not only help us grow, but to flourish,” she says.
“We have always tried to make our menu as affordable as possible to ensure plant-based food is accessible. Thanks to the grant, we’re free to work more in the community. It’s my dream to deliver cooking demonstrations in local primary schools, showing young people that it’s easy to produce delicious, healthy and sustainable meals.”
Recipient Drums and Flats is a South London soul food restaurant set up by Khamisi McKenzie and Daniel Opoku-Baah. “We started Drums & Flats out of our parents’ kitchens, testing recipes on our friends and family,” they say. “Our food reflects the music, and culture we grew up around: we call it South London Soul Food. It’s food that makes you feel good inside. It’s not pretentious or exclusive, but it’s packed full of flavour and culture. This grant will go a long way in helping our recovery from the pandemic.”
Vegan Shack founder Ayodimeji Sadiq started his plant based fast-food restaurant from his one-bedroom apartment in 2019. He quickly outgrew his kitchen and moved to a modest location near Manchester city centre, before relocating in the summer of 2021 to Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens.
“Vegan Shack is a plant-based fast-food restaurant serving everything from burgers to fried chick’n. Our mission is to make plant-based options as accessible as possible with no compromise on flavour,” he says. We had humble beginnings, starting with recipes I developed in my own kitchen – I even built all the restaurant’s interior myself. This funding will allow us to properly renovate the space and help us keep innovating and moving forward.”
The Black Business Fund recipients were selected by judges from Enterprise Nation, Be Inclusive hospitality, and Black Eats London. “I am extremely proud to have partnered on this initiative, providing mentors for the ten brilliant businesses who will receive this fund,” says Be Inclusive hospitality founder Lorraine Copes. “This initiative reinforces what I know to be true, which is the importance of taking a multi-pronged approach in supporting Black businesses to move forward and upward.”
In the UK, just 5% of small or medium sized businesses are run by people from black or other ethnic minority backgrounds, according to Uber Eats.
Matthew Price, Uber Eats general manager, says: “Small businesses and restaurants are the beating heart of local communities, and we’re honoured to give so many a platform on Uber Eats. Given the significant economic impact of the pandemic, we are incredibly proud to support small Black-owned businesses across the country. Each recipient has their own story of extraordinary resilience and entrepreneurial drive and we hope the fund will allow them to thrive as their journey continues.”