ATLANTA — Atlanta Black Restaurant Week is celebrating the city’s diverse Black-owned restaurants.
One restaurant owner told Channel 2’s Lori Wilson that she is grateful for the campaign, which shines a spotlight on businesses at a time when staying in business is not easy.
At Dave’s Sports Bar and Grill in Hapeville, there are definite fan-favorite foods.
Pilar Newsom-Jones and her husband own the restaurant, which is featured during Atlanta’s Black Restaurant Week.
Each restaurant is celebrating with its own specials and events designed to attract new customers.
“The diversity of the local market is also really strong, which makes this so fun for people to support,” Black Restaurant Week co-founder Falayn Ferrell said.
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Ferrell’s organization hosts Black restaurant weeks in major cities around the country, but told Wilson that Atlanta is by far its most popular campaign, giving restaurants advertising they wouldn’t be able to afford on their own.
“You’re just going to see soul in Atlanta. There’s barbecue, there’s Caribbean, there’s all types of cuisines. We have an Ethiopian restaurant participating,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell said Atlanta, like other major cities, is seeing a number of Black businesses close.
According to the Atlanta Regional Commission, just 10.7% of businesses in the metro are Black-owned, down from 11.3% in 2022.
Ferrell said that just means it’s more important than ever to support these restaurants.
“It’s super important to really drive dollars to local restaurants. A lot of them are really feeling the crunch now between food costs and some of the labor shortages,” Ferrell said.
“We wanted everybody to feel welcome walking in the doors. And I can say God has been really good to us for standing on that,” Newsom-Jones said.
Atlanta Black Restaurant Week lasts through Aug. 16.
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