‘We’re doing this for Charlotte,’ BayHaven Food and Wine Festival returns for fourth year

The BayHaven Food and Wine Festival is returning to the Queen City for its fourth year from October 4-6 at Savona Mill in West Charlotte.

This festival is a celebration of Black foodways and the culinary traditions of the African Diaspora, featuring music-themed dinners, exclusive tastings and pairings, barbecue bashes, educational panels and more. Tickets for individual events start at $75.

The why

The BayHaven Festival was founded by chef Greg and Subrina Collier — the duo behind 3rd & Fernwood , Leah & Louise and Uptown Yolk — with the intent to spotlight diverse voices in the culinary industry.

Chef Greg is a 4x semifinalist and nominee for the James Beard Awards , and the couple won Charlotte Magazine’s 2018’s Charlotteans of the Year.

However, the restaurateurs have transcended these titles, and certainly didn’t allow their work to stop in the kitchen, even as they started getting national recognition.

They saw a gap in the food festival market across the Southeast — a stark lack of Black voices, chefs and industry folks and a demographic present that didn’t represent the hosting city.

“What do we need to do to hang out and be with our people?” was a question Greg brought up at these festivals.

So, instead of waiting for change, they made change. Subrina describes herself as “defiant.” Using their own money and capital, the couple built their festival to spotlight the vast contributions that Black communities have made to the global culinary scene at large, and more pointedly, to Charlotte.

They want BayHaven to be “representative of how cool Charlotte can be,” Subrina said. “Everybody has their own different swag,” and four years ago, the couple was ready to highlight that swag in Charlotte by carving out a space for African Diaspora-centric cuisine.

“Really, we want people to be thinking about Black foodways and looking at Charlotte and saying man, Charlotte is a pretty dope city,” Greg said.

Who’s who at the weekend activities

The annual BayHaven Food and Wine Festival will host participants with ties to Black and African American roots — chefs, cooking demonstration instructors, panel speakers, and mixologists.

As for the attendees, the festival is for people “who like to have good drinks, good beer, good wine, good food and have a good time,” Greg said. “If that’s you, come on down,” he said.

“The conversations that we are having are things that, if you’re in a city with African American people, you’re gonna be affected by,” he shared.

The Colliers “want to highlight those folks doing all this good work,” including:

• Ricky Moore , a James Beard Award winner, renowned for his North Carolina seafood restaurant, Saltbox Seafood Joint.

• Todd Richards , a two-time James Beard semifinalist, celebrated for his Atlanta-based Richards’ Southern Fried and his cookbook Soul.

• Jerome Grant , former executive chef at the Smithsonian’s Sweet Home Café, known for weaving African American history into his dishes.

• Chris Scott , a Top Chef finalist, recognized for his soul food at Butterfunk Biscuit Co.

• Adrian Lipscombe , founder of the 40 Acres & a Mule Project, focused on preserving Black foodways and promoting food equity.

Alongside the big names, the Colliers were sure to invite local culinary folks, like local caterers making meals for high school events, Greg said. “They might not have a big name,” he said. But it’s “the work they’re doing in the community” that matters, given the festival’s overarching goal to highlight a breadth and depth of Black creatives.

Events to attend:

• Thursday’s Black Farmers Dinner at 3rd & Fernwood with Stephen Satterfield from Netflix’s High on the Hog .

• Friday’s Fish Fry led by Chef Ricky Moore.

• Friday’s Dinner En Noir, a fancy, all-black 7 course menu paired with Maker’s Mark spirits.

• Saturday’s Tasting Tent with 30 culinary leaders matching up for “Battle of the Best Food Cities” with space for 750 guests.

• Saturday’s Disco Barbecue Bash, combining the swinging ’60s with for at least 7 dishes of BBQ.

• Sunday’s Yacht Rock Brunch with 4 courses and 8 top chefs.

• Sunday’s Serving the Culture Dinner, an 8-course menu with an immersive music and dining experience celebrating the bridge from the Disco to Hip Hop.

Inspiring the next gen of Black leaders

One thing the duo will proudly encourage: opportunity for the next generation of culinary innovators.

The festival’s purpose is not just to pay homage to traditional Black foodways, but to build communities and networks for other Black culinary creatives to thrive.

“I wanted that to be my contribution to the city outside of opening restaurants,” Subrina said.

At the festival’s networking events, “you might be able to find a young sous … or a young front of house manager,” Greg said.

Greg told CharlotteFive that “Subrina didn’t have a Subrina to look up to and I didn’t have a Greg to look up to.” Now, the young chefs, fresh from Johnson and Wales for example, do have a Subrina and a Greg.

“I think you have to see it to believe it … someone has to show you it’s possible,” Greg said. “We want people to know that there is a pathway … you can get the restaurant ownership, you can get to the wards, you can get the nominations.”

That’s why the first day’s networking panel is firstly, on the front end of the festival, and secondly, free. Greg knows the work — aka the hard work of making equity-driven change in the industry — starts at the culinary school level. Their “goal is to get as many culinary students from all different programs, high schools and colleges in this room.”

Learn first, party second

For those attending that are interested in the educational component around African American foodways specifically in the food and beverage industry, the panels are certainly “tailored to all hospitality professionals,” Greg Said.

The festival kicks off with a multi-course dinner hosted by Stephen Satterfield at 3rd & Fernwood done in partnership with the Harvey B. Gantt Center, and Chef Greg hopes this will be highly educational.

The educational initiatives at the festival are designed to both “inspire and inform” attendees about the history, contributions and impact of Black culinary traditions, according to the event’s press release.

“Now, once we get past the panels, everything else is a party, in my opinion,” Greg said. Learning followed up with fancy dinners, open cooks, disco, regional bites battling is, undoubtedly, a party.

Changing the price point

The Colliers altered the price points this year to “make sure that everybody in Charlotte who wants to attend has a pathway to attend,” Greg said. The Colliers want to create space and opportunity for people, without them “having to spend a week’s worth of salary.”

Guests will find many tasting dinner style events that typically go for well over $200, but BayHaven has food events, like the tasting tents, starting at $75.

“Doing this for Charlotte”

At the end of the day, or end of the weekend rather, Greg hopes to hear the phrase “I’m coming back” from attendees, and that’s not just coming back to the festival, but to Charlotte.

Subrina said that “we deserved this here in Charlotte,” a city she proudly sees as a melting pot. By serving as championing voices of this city and of Black excellence in the culinary arts, starting events like Soul Food Sessions and festivals like this one, the Colliers are spreading the message that the Queen City is more than just “a steak-and-potato financial capital,” Subrina said.

With Bayhaven, the couple is doing “something that has a lasting impact … the mission has been started,” Subrina said. “The undertaking is huge, it’s tiresome,” she said. And still, she loves it. “It’s a chance for other people to experience Black food and be in the center of it, but also discover new talent they didn’t know about.”

“We’re doing this for everybody in Charlotte,” Greg said. “But we just want everybody to come support as much as they can.”

Tickets for the Bayhaven Food and Wine Festival events can be found on the BayHaven website .