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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2019)
Page 10 The Skanner Portland & Seattle MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE EDITION September 18, 2019 MBE 2019 Restaurants cont’d from pg 5 smells and tastes of fam- ily kitchens, creating an experience that creates a regular customer. Hendrix admitted that whenever she smells nutmeg, she thinks about her mother’s homemade teacakes. “That smell triggers comfort, love and safety,” she said. “For us, those teacakes were every- thing.” The late Leah Chase, whose restaurant, Dooky Chase, served as an im- “ can eat with someone, you can learn from them and when you learn from someone, you can make big changes.” Dooky Chase was named one of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years by Food & Wine. It takes a great deal of work to evoke such a place and create such feelings. To that end, restaurant owners work especially hard. Eatblac- kowned.com hopes to Special Business Edition website. “There are Black-owned franchis- es,” Dillard said. “I will list them, but I’m hav- ing a hard time finding those franchises. Rapper Rick Ross owns a lot of Wingstops in Florida — we’ve added them. “Some Black-owned franchises don’t pro- mote that they’re Black- owned,” he added. “They ‘keep it corporate.’ We do have some franchis- es listed: Tiger Woods, Shaquille and Michael Jordan have a few fran- chises.” A vanishing industry African Americans make up only eight per- cent of restaurant owners and managers in the U.S.,” said Warren Luckett, co-founder of BRW in a recent Forbes feature. “Our mission is to provide a platform that calls for inclu- sion in the industry and exposes and elevates black-owned businesses portant New Orleans meeting spot during the Civil Rights movement, agreed: “Food builds big bridges,” she said. “If you assist them on the adver- tising front. Dillard has plans to in- clude more Black-owned food businesses on the African American cul- ture has gone global with the exception of soul food. Across the United States, legendary soul food restaurants have closed. In big cities like Chicago, these once-pop- ular restaurants are no more: Army and Louis (1945-2010), Gladys Lun- cheonette (1946-2001), Izola’s (1950-2011). In New York City: Cope- lands (1962-2007), and in Los Angeles most of the popular M&M (Mis- sissippi Mary) restau- rants (1968 through early 2000s), as well as Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch have been shuttered. Lavell Jackson, a for- mer co-owner of The Candy Store, believes several factors like Af- rican American migra- tion, African-Ameri- cans preparing their own dishes, more Blacks preferring fast food, in- ternal turmoil among family-owned Black restaurants, healthier options and the econom- ic slowdown have done harm to a “niche indus- try.” “In regard to the econ- omy, I made hundreds of thousands of dollars during the crack cocaine era,” Jackson said. “My diner was filled with drug kingpins, as well as the local clergy, beau- tiful women, as well as professional athletes. Now places like Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles-- one of the small numbers of diners — has survived and has been dependent on a small cult following. I believe gentrification will give the industry a boost, also.” Rate restaurants on website A user’s login page will also be added this fall, with customer reviews and a star system to rate each restaurant. “Within the next two to three months, I would like to have the members section set up,” Dillard said. “There, you will be able to login with a cus- tom user name and pass code. Members will be able to rate restaurants, leave comments and add pictures for the restau- rant. “Eventually, I will have a page for recipes,” he added. “Members will be able to post their recipes for visitors of the web- site to search and read.” Businesses can post a eatblackowned.com listing by completing a form online, which asks for the name, location, contact information and other details of the estab- lishment. Company lo- gos and images can also be added, along with a restaurant description. “There are two options: basic listings and fea- tured listings,” Dillard said. “Featured listings are paid for and they have several benefits over basic listings. If any- body searches, you’ll be ranked at the top of the first page.” Dillard is also looking for companies to adver- tise on the site. “We have advertising space on the front page,” he said. “And we also have space available on our listings page.” The full-time truck driver believes his web- site’s listings will help to make some difference in the nation’s Black com- munity. “I hope this website will get more people to support Black-owned businesses,“ Dillard said. “There’s a huge racial wealth gap in this coun- try. We need to do ev- erything we can to build ourselves up. Hopefully, someone will find a new eatery they never tried and go get some great tasting food.” Shackelford cont’d from pg 8 daughter, Jordan. While maintaining significant commitment to his com- munity, Shackelford has also excelled in his pro- fessional life. He holds a Master of Business Ad- ministration from the University of Houston and previously worked for the Houston Area Ur- ban League in its Hous- ing Programs depart- ment and as a certified housing counselor for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. In both roles, Shack- elford worked to solve housing issues facing disadvantaged commu- nities. He is currently working on a major Cen- sus 2020 project to en- sure an accurate count for African Americans in the upcoming year. Shackelford under- stands that he must gain the trust and respect of all members, especially those who did not vote for him, but he is overly optimistic that the or- ganization can thrive with collective unity and focus on advancing the movement. “Just like I didn’t get here on my own, moving forward the same will be true,” said Shackelford. “In the coming months my team and I look for- ward to meeting with the members across the country and hearing their ideas of how we can work together to advance the movement. It will take all of us to create the impact that we want to see, and our communities desperate- ly need.” Shackelford ran on a presidential platform that focused on the fol- lowing: Connecting with the community on a more grassroots level and bringing together cor- porations, elected offi- cials, entrepreneurs, unions, the faith com- munity and all other concerned parties for the benefit of the peo- ple they serve. Creating a “family-feel” environment that with an emphasis on sup- port and accountabili- ty as the organization moves toward the com- mon goal of positive impact in our commu- nities, in that wherev- er a YP member travels to a place where they have a presence in that city they should be able to connect with other YPs. Ensuring that the NULYP Executive Leadership Team (ELT) sets the tone and the example for chapters across the country, by modeling the same expectations they have of the lead- ers and chapters they support.