Black Restaurant Week taking place in Kansas City through September 22

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s Black Restaurant Week across the Midwest and here in Kansas City now through September 22.

The annual event, that began in Houston, and is now in its fifth year in Kansas City, aims to promote restaurants in the Black community who may not be able to support costly marketing campaigns.

Most restaurant owners love what they do. Isaac Lee Collins and Fannie Gibson are in that group.

“My favorite part is the people we serve, old, young, Black, brown, white, everything in between and it’s a really cool meeting space,” Collins, owner of Yogurtini franchises in Overland Park, Shoal Creek and the Plaza, said.

“I love cooking I have a passion for it, I was always cooking at home and for friends. People loved the food so I decided to bring the culture to Kansas City,” Gibson, owner of Fannie’s West African Cuisine said.

She opened her restaurant on Troost six years ago featuring an authentic menu she describes as spicy and flavorful. But like for most restaurant owners things are seldom easy.

“It’s so hard but being consistent keep pushing not giving up I think the key to any long term business,” she said.

According to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, 500,000 restaurants and bars are faced with an uncertain future due to lost revenue and increased debt since the pandemic.

According to James Beard Foundation more than half of culinary business owners experienced lowered profits this year and challenges from rising food and labor costs.

Promoters of Black Restaurant Week say their goal is to save the Black restaurant industry, exposing people to different cultural cuisines or sometimes pointing out a small “Black-owned business” sign on the window you might miss.

Not everyone one knows our business is Black-owned and not everyone knows what Yogurtini is. So its a great way when they are looking down this list of black owned restaurants to pick what they want to try.”

This year’s list of participants includes Gates Bar B-Q, Yogurtini, KC Cajun, Arthur’s Hometown, Young Family Farm, Topknotch Vegan Vittles, Wah Gwan and Fannie’s.

“It’s a lot of exposure to us. It helps bring different people in different faces to try the food, it helps every time,” Gibson said.

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