Augusta Black Restaurant Week returns for the second year
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Last year’s inaugural Black Restaurant Week was so successful that it’s back again this year. The celebration kicks off Monday.
Here’s why organizers and business owners say this year will be even better.
More than 20 restaurants are part of this year’s Augusta Black Restaurant Week
Karen Gordon organized the event and said this is a way to highlight Black businesses while enjoying a good meal.
“I want folks to come out and enjoy these restaurants, especially this week, and we switch their timing so that it will coincide with Juneteenth week,” she said. “I want folks to explore try something new, and I keep coming back and then, of course, tell other people.”
Last year the week focused on getting customers into brick-and-mortar restaurants. This year they are spotlighting private chefs like Reginald White, who owns Black Lotus Cuisine.
“Lotus flower in the Japanese culture tends to be as representative as this strong, resistant flower because it grows and swampy and dirty water even though it comes out to be this beautiful flower. I feel like African Americans, like anybody who is struggling in life, can also be a lotus flower,” said White.
White started his mobile catering company two years ago.
He’s inspired by his love for anime and found a way to combine that with Black culture.
“For $15 per person, we come to the home. You get an appetizer; you get to customize your bowl of ramen. Kind of a fusion between two different cultures into one,” he said.
Gordon says many small Black businesses are typically undercapitalized and underfunded. They need your help to prosper.
“We noticed during COVID and then last year that a lot of our small Black businesses did not get the attention and didn’t get the relief that some of the other majority-owned businesses were able to enjoy. We had a great response last year. We’re looking forward to an even larger response this year,” she said.
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