Tag Archives: BIPOC Business

Features

Essential Southeast Seattle Collective Fights for Small Businesses in the South End

by Mark Van Streefkerk

Even before the pandemic, small BIPOC-owned businesses and restaurants in the South End faced systemic barriers to success, including lack of access or resources as well as the ever-looming threat of gentrification and displacement. The pandemic only magnified these barriers. The processes of applying for vital loans and grants and pivoting to a greater online presence, all while somehow trying to maintain business as usual, were overwhelming without help. That’s where the Essential Southeast Seattle collective (ESES) comes in.

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News

Ezell’s Famous Chicken Launches Grant Initiative for Black-Owned Businesses 

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by Mark Van Streefkerk 

Ezell’s Famous Chicken is the first to credit their success to community support. Now the beloved Seattle-based chain of fried chicken restaurants is giving back. Partnering with DoorDash, Ezell’s new Rudd’s R.U.B.B. (Raising Up Black Businesses) Initiative will offer 20 Black-owned businesses or organizations in Washington grants of $2,500. The window to apply for the grants opened Aug. 30 and will close Sept. 20. At the time this article was written, there were already more than 220 applicants. 

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Community

Central Cafe: A Community Hub With Purpose and Delicious Eats

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by Kayla Blau

The doors of Central Cafe officially opened on Jan. 18, 2020, just a few months before Seattle entered COVID-19 lockdown. Many small businesses didn’t make it, but Bridgette Johnson knows how to pivot.

Johnson grew up in the Central District and is a Garfield High School alumna. After 10 plus years of preparing food in grocery stores, she wanted more creative control over the food she was preparing and decided to open a cafe. 

“I wanted to create a space like we had when I was a kid. We would go to the corner store all the time, and the owner knew us so we wouldn’t act up. We need to know our neighbors again, to check in on people, especially now with the pandemic and so much isolation and depression. We need those community spaces where everyone is welcome,” she said.

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