By Udo Salters, On Sunday, October 13, 2024, the first EatOkra Culinary Creatives Conference Celebrating Black Cuisine & Culture was held at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan, New York City.
EatOkra is a platform that aims to grow into a thriving community of food lovers and cultural advocates; a space that could uplift Black-owned businesses, celebrate the African diaspora, and bring people together, one meal at a time. The EatOkra app, which can be downloaded for IOS and Android, was the result of visionaries Anthony Edwards and Janique Edwards. EatOkra connects customers with Black-owned restaurants.
The EatOkra Culinary Creatives Conference was the first attempt by the founders of EatOkra to bring people together in person to discuss the various topics in the Black food and beverage community. Anthony noted, that the idea for the conference was born in 2019. It took until 2024 to see the idea through to reality. It was the corporate sponsors who really give the final push to pull the conference together. Anthony discussed his vision of success for the event, being able to hear stories six to nine months down the line about successful relationships that were created at the conference.
Taking a pause from all the moving and shaking, Pepsi Digin’s Tiffaine Stephens shared some information about the organization and its purpose. Pepsi Digin, part of Pepsi Co, was created to change the restaurant industry. Along with the normal challenges of being a business owner, Black restaurateurs face obstacles that make it difficult to create a business and have it become successful. Pepsi Digin’s mission is to give Black-owned restaurants the resources they need to build and grow. They provide support to overcome foundational challenges, resources for digital optimization and programs to raise the visibility of Black-owned restaurants.
Various businesses and stakeholders were represented at the conference from various geographical locations. Harlem was in the building! An OG of the Harlem restaurant game, Melba Wilson of Melba’s Restaurant participated on the first panel of the day discussing Financial Management for Food Entrepreneurs. She shared the stage with Fund Black Founders’ Founder Renee King, Backyard Barbeque’s Kenneth Ware, National Achiever’s JPMorgan Chase & Co. Executive Director, Nichol King, and moderated by Restaurant Consultant “The Restaurant Scientist of Hospitality Concepts Jason Wallace.
A lot of information and advice were shared with the audience by this knowledgeable panel. Such topics at raising money to start businesses through family and friends round funding as well as crowdfunding. The importance of building relationships was raised during the panel discussion, especially when working with banks to raise funds. A point Melba emphasized for consumers was, being intentional about supporting Black businesses–you can’t just talk about, you have to be about it.
Also representing Harlem, Petrushka Bazin Larsen and Odessa of Sugar Hill Creamery. They had a booth set up at the conference. In speaking with Petrushka, I learned that Sugar Hill Creamery was started in 2017. Petrushka and her husband Nick realized that there was no ice cream places in Harlem that made small batches, with a nice environment where you want to sit and enjoy your ice cream.
So this powerhouse couple, worked to fill that gap. They finally opened in West Harlem on Broadway between 149th and 150th Street. They made it through the pandemic and continue to grow with stores in (East Harlem),1642 Lexington Avenue (between 103rd & 104th St), (Brooklyn) Time Out Market DUMBO 55 Water Street and a special Stuytown location in lower Manhattan.
Petrushka fell in love with ice cream while living in San Franciso when she was in graduate school. As an after-class stress reliever, ice cream became a go-to comfort food. Honey Lavender Orange Cardamom ice cream was a favorite.
Staying in the dessert category, another Harlem small business that participated in the first EatOkra Culinary Creatives Conference was the little FAT girl online bakery.
The little FAT girl specializes in brownies started by Coco and Mel. For over 15 years little FAT brownies have been served in restaurants in the New York City and tri-state area, and now they are shipped nationwide. Now an e-commerce direct-to-consumer business, there was time when little FAT girl brownies were sold out of a physical bakery. Coco discussed on a panel, during the conference, the challenges of having a bakery. Many hours had to be put into the bakery while it was in operation. It was the pandemic that forced Coco and Mel to pivot and move into providing brownies through online orders.
Also, Harlem’s Gloribelle Perez was seen at the conference talking up her own Harissa Hot Honey, which is locally sourced honey infused with the fiery spices of Tunisia.
If you missed the EatOkra Culinary Creatives Conference, you missed a great opportunity to hear from and network with the various stakeholders in the Black food business.
For more information, go to www.CulinaryCreativesConference.com.
Udo Salters
Udo Salters was born and raised in New York City. His love for photography began as a youth when he started taking photos of friends and family at various events. In a natural transition, his passion turned from shooting images of fashion models and fashion shows to jetting around Harlem to Hollywood creating images of celebrities and socialites at some of the most exclusive hot spots. He has worked for many outlets locally with Harlem World Magazine, Fortune 500 companies, and many other various media outlets. He currently resides in NYC. Get more information at Udo Salters Photography.
Photo credit: 1) Melba Wilson by Tisdale Studio. 2) Anthony Edwards and Janique Edwards. 3) Tiffaine Stephens. 4) Mel and Coco. 5) Gloribelle Perez. By Udo Salters.
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