Time to Eat: Black-owned businesses and foods from the African diaspora are a unique festival staple. FIU News

When his food business dried up during the pandemic, Ricardo Vincent had to make a big decision: to survive or to protect. That’s when he and some of his business partners decided to open a food truck.

In March 2020, Taco Negro was born. The enticing aromas of perfectly seasoned chicken tacos, shredded beef and cheese, po boy shrimp and barbecue mac and cheese waft from the truck, as does the pride of being a black business owner.

“After the epidemic, no one was cooking at home,” says Vincent. So he decided to bring the food to the people. Why Taco Negro? “Believe it or not, there aren’t many black owners who drive taco trucks.”

Taco Negro is one of more than 40 black-owned restaurants and food trucks participating in this year’s 2.^Th Annual Black Pepper Food and Wine Festival by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Black Hospitality Initiative. The festival is hosted by FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and benefits the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) efforts. 2^Th The annual festival is scheduled for Saturday, August 13 from 3 pm to 8 pm at the Biscayne Bay campus in North Miami, Florida.

25 FIU students are helping the organizers run the event. FIU-affiliated businesses at the festival include Tropical Oasis Express, The Trap 954, Little Pepe’s by Chef Ari, Ollie’s Bakeshop, Rita’s Italian Ice and Pound for Pound Cakes.

In addition to restaurateurs and black businesses from Miami to West Palm Beach, the festival includes live chef demonstrations, cocktail demonstrations and live music.

“What better time to celebrate our restaurants than during Black Business Month? It allows us to be very intentional about spreading the Black Dollar and bringing awareness to these amazing restaurants in South Florida,” said Alexis Brown, co-founder of the festival and owner of events company Social Exchange Inc., a black-owned Focuses on Business Together with her business partner, Joel Brown, she focused her company on developing new social, community service and travel experiences to provide a sense of community to urban millennials and professionals.

“The narrative is that there aren’t many black-owned businesses here in South Florida, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Supporting the black economy

August is Black Business Month, when the public is encouraged to appreciate and support black-owned businesses across the United States. The month began in August 2004 to help drive policy agendas for the then 2.6 million African Americans in America and to share and celebrate America’s diversity and equity. Miami-Dade County is ranked 5th^Th The highest number of black-owned businesses in the nation. In Miami-Dade Brown, 17 percent of businesses are black-owned, and in Broward that number is double that, at 34 percent.

But black business owners face challenges. According to an October 2020 McKinsey study, only five percent of black Americans in business in the U.S. hold equity, and other studies show that black entrepreneurs have a harder time getting the capital needed to start a business or get marketing dollars to promote it.

“Creating equity in America means economic stability, not just social stability,” said Brian Barker, DEI professor at the Chaplin School and professor of diversity, equity and inclusion in America. Another hospitality school in the country.

Barker launched a bold, intentional initiative called the Alliance for Hospitality Equity & Diversity, or AHED, to create an infrastructure for talented, but underrepresented black and Hispanic students nationwide to bring hospitality management degrees and leadership into the C-suite.

“The only way to create generational wealth and create equity in society is through an intentional approach and this festival is a wonderful way to put money back into the black economy,” Barker concluded.

For Vincent, the owner of the Taco Negro business, it will be the first time to participate in the Black Pepper Food and Wine Festival. He’s excited and agrees, “It’s all about mutual support.”

For Black Pepper Wine & Food Festival tickets, visit blackpepperfoodfest.com and to learn more about DEI’s efforts, visit hospitality.fiu.edu. The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested.