On June 5th, 2020, we made a commitment to our community of Employees, Creators, and Guests to take an active approach to help lift the Black community. We committed to providing $500K worth of revenue/economic opportunities to Black-owned businesses within the Bay Area and quadrupling (4x) the number of Black-owned businesses who are a part of our food Creator network through the end of this year.
Today, a little over two months since our initial commitment, we’re pleased to share that we have passed the halfway mark to our pledge. Through our work with the Great Plates Delivered San Francisco program—a program that feeds food-insecure seniors who are at risk due to COVID-19—we have been able to add 7 new Black-owned businesses to our network of Creators. As a result, we have put $262,210 of revenue back into our Creator community of Black-owned businesses, and we’re just getting started.
The delicious new Creators we’ve added to our network include:
– Radio Africa Kitchen: Created by Chef Eskender Aseged, originally from Ethiopia, Eskender arrived in San Francisco in the late ’80s where he spent the next 20 years working in the Bay Area with renowned chefs. In the Fall of 2004, Eskender started his first “pop up” restaurant right in his own home—serving meals to small groups of friends. Eventually, these pop-ups expanded to a variety of Bay Area cafés over the next seven years serving market-fresh Ethiopian & American dishes.
– Nombe: One of the Mission’s Japanese favorites, known for its fabulous cooking classes.
– Peaches Patties: A Jamaican catering company based in San Francisco that prides itself on baking a variety of fresh homemade Jamaican patties and other popular Jamaican dishes with fresh and flavorful ingredients.
– J&D’s BBQ: Delicious BBQ Catering and Food Truck bringing you that good ol’ BBQ. From St. Louis Style Ribs to Brisket, they have all your favorite BBQ meats and sides!
– Boug Cali: Specializes in California Creole cuisine: gumbo, shrimp po’ boys, and Vietnamese American-inspired garlic noodles.
– Fayala: Serving delicious, fresh, French and Mediterranean cuisine. With recipes originating directly from the owners’ hometowns, they bring in flavors from North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East with a contemporary flair.
– Z Zoul Cafe: One of the best and only authentic Sudanese Cuisine Creators in the Bay Area. They are known for their jabana coffee, eggplant salad with yogurt, and foul masalah.
In addition to adding 7 new Creators to our community, we have rolled out a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Speaker Series throughout our organization, creating an opportunity to hear about the experiences of Black employees at Off the Grid. This was a grassroots effort that has evolved into an internal online forum for individuals to ask questions, share industry insights, and learn how to proactively stand up for the rights of all marginalized communities. Interested in hearing about what is discussed in our DEI Speaker Series, let us know in the comments below.
We have a lot more work to do as an organization that prides itself in bringing people together but we’re happy to share that we are making headwind in our commitments to the communities we serve.
Interested in getting involved?
-If you are a Black-owned food business—or have ideas about how Off the Grid can support Bay Area Black businesses you’d like to share with us—please reach out to us here.
– Throughout COVID-19, Off the Grid has been creating unique and innovative ways to come together in a safe way. Interested in supporting Black-owned food businesses in the Bay Area? Reach out to us today to book a socially-distanced or at-home catering event using Black-Owned Businesses.
We’ll continue to listen, and look forward to hearing from you.
