According to a release, Black Restaurant Week LLC is the organization responsible for celebrating the flavors of African American, African and Caribbean cuisine with a series of regional cultural events. Their mission is to feed and fuel the cultural famine – especially with an emphasis on reviving and saving the Black restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic – and educate consumers on the abundance of cultural cuisines and dispel ethnic untruths. During Black Restaurant Week, foodies, culinary influencers, locals and guests will be treated to prix fixe brunch, lunch and dinner menus at participating restaurants within the area.
“BRW started in 2016 as a way to create a platform for Black-owned restaurants in the Houston community,” says Black Restaurant Week co-founder Falayn Ferrell. “What we saw was a major restaurant week that’s hosted here, [but] it has more like wait staff, fine-dining and most of the restaurants in our community aren’t really set up like that. So we just wanted to create a platform that is a little more flexible to showcase all the types of culinary businesses in our community. Since then, it’s grown.”
Along with other co-founders Warren Luckett and Derek Robinson, Ferrell has seen the event grow from just Houston to eleven other markets, including Philadelphia in 2018. Overall, 250 businesses across the country have been highlighted during this culinary showcase.
