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How to Support Boston’s Black-Owned Restaurants

There’s a growing crowdsourced spreadsheet with details on over 150 Boston-area black-owned restaurants, as well as other resources

by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Overhead view of two Somali dishes on a pale peach tablecloth with white accents. One dish is chapati strips cooked in a tomato sauce with chunks of beef; the other is a beef biryani with multi-colored rice in shades of yellow and orange.
Tawakal plate (left) and beef biryani at Tawakal Halal Cafe in East Boston
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater
Part of COVID-19 and What It Means for Massachusetts Restaurants

With protests and vigils continuing nationwide in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, many people have published and spread resources aimed at supporting black-owned businesses in various cities.

Here in Boston, a rapidly expanding crowdsourced spreadsheet offers details on black-owned restaurants (and other businesses) within the city and in nearby cities like Somerville, Cambridge, and beyond. Additional lists and resources have been making the social media rounds, too.

Here’s a look at some of the local resources available.

A Crowdsourced Spreadsheet of Boston’s Black-Owned Businesses

This spreadsheet of Boston-area black-owned businesses, including restaurants, has been public for five days now, growing by the minute. Around 70 or 80 people at a time are logged in reading it and making updates. It was spearheaded by Aishwarya Bhadouria, a local woman working in tech consulting, who quickly heard from others compiling similar information and ended up combining forces with two others, Nikki Ellis and Alicia Shamiji, to pull together one master list.

“As a woman of color and a diversity and inclusion activist, and with close friends in the black community — the current state had me really, really upset, angry, and emotional,” Aishwarya Bhadouria tells Eater. “I wasn’t able to go to the protests this week but really wanted to contribute even virtually — I refused to just sit at home doing nothing to help our black community. Going through Instagram, someone had created a list of black-owned restaurants for New York, which had me looking for Boston-based black-owned restaurants.”

After finding several lists, Bhadouria still wanted more information: Which restaurants were impacted by COVID-19? Which were temporarily closed? The spreadsheet was born, and it includes information on temporary closures, delivery and takeout options for the restaurants that remain open, vegan and vegetarian options, social media links and other contact info, and a new column added today that includes Venmo links or other ways to directly donate to restaurants or buy gift cards from them.

“The intent was always to provide visibility to these black-owned restaurants and their owners, and not only now, but in the future.”

It’s useful data, too, that could be helpful in other applications. Bhadouria and a friend are in conversations with Brooklyn-based startup EatOkra, a mobile app for finding black-owned restaurants. The app includes ratings, links to delivery services, and other information. It currently features two dozen Boston-area listings, and Bhadouria hopes to share data from the spreadsheet to add many more — the spreadsheet has already grown to over 150 local restaurant listings.

Bhadouria and several colleagues also put together a strategic proposal for a leading food delivery company, aiming to identify innovative ways that the company could help support the black community. “We’re excited about the potential of how we can create similar proposals for other companies in this space to drive change,” says Bhadouria.

“It’s been really motivating to see the restaurants getting the visibility they need to be supported during this time,” says Bhadouria. “Some of these efforts were with friends, other with strangers — but it’s all in support for our black community and friends. Simple actions like ordering from a black-owned restaurant, sharing the doc, donating money, are the beginning of a longer journey.”

Other Lists, Guides, and Resources

Boston Black Hospitality Coalition

Several Boston business owners announced the formation of the Boston Black Hospitality Coalition earlier this year as a response to the impact of the pandemic, which, per the coalition’s website, has been impacting black communities at a disproportionate rate.

“As it stands, there are only eight black owned liquor licenses in the city of Boston,” the coalition notes. “Unless a strategic response is implemented immediately, our businesses — neighborhood anchors that represent an iconic legacy of black entrepreneurship and community development in Boston — will be forced to close their doors forever.”

The coalition is raising funds on its website to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The group is made up of the owners behind District 7 Tavern and Soleil in Roxbury, Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen and Wally’s in the South End, and Savvor Restaurant & Lounge downtown.

COVID-19 and What It Means for Massachusetts Restaurants