For Dozie Ibekwe, opening Dozie's Grill in the middle of the city's Westside Medical District helped build a platform to address the lack of access and recognition for the Nigerian food he grew up with. Ta.
Meanwhile, Kristen Harper, owner of Cleo's Southern Cuisine, relied on her faith to pivot from a career in sports journalism to a career surrounded by food after friends encouraged her to start a food company. Ta. Her flagship Southside store was born out of that challenge. She honors her grandmother, the restaurant's namesake, every day.
As for Quinton McNair, owner of Hyde Park's Strugglebeard Bakery, the baking skills that fuel his entrepreneurial endeavors were honed as a way to support his mental health. He wants to give that back to the black male youth in the community.
Besides living in Chicago, these black entrepreneurs have something else in common. That means being a recipient of a Heinz Black Kitchen Initiative grant. The grants have donated up to $25,000 each to 62 Black-owned food businesses across the country as of the end of 2023. This funding is helping local business owners realize their dreams.
“We really needed the grants to continue to grow,” Ibekwe said. “At Dozy’s Grill, we want to make West African cuisine approachable and affordable.”
This is the second time Ibekwe has received this grant. Dozy's Grill opened in his 2020, offering takeout and delivery only from his 200-square-foot Ghost Kitchen in the South Loop. With that money, he was able to secure the lease and equipment for his current Westside food court space. He is looking forward to having a proper brick-and-mortar store to display his work.
“The goal is to continue to do what we do well by connecting the dots for people seeking West African food and demystifying what West African food is,” Ibekwe said. . “We do that by being more visible. By giving people an on-the-ground experience of what we do.”
He said it's very different from when he grew up in the south suburbs, where he never saw a Nigerian restaurant that his nieces and nephews could easily go to. But Dozzy's is filling that gap. “This dish is being praised all over social media,” Ibekwe said.
For McNair, working with his hands was a safe haven. He was a helicopter mechanic during his time in the Army. At some point, he started repairing and modifying cars, which turned into home improvements. Eventually, he started using his hands to bake to help with his mental health during the pandemic.
The Mattson residents sold their first cookies in December 2020 and signed a lease for their current bakery space through May 2023. After four months of expansion, Strugglebeard opened on October 14th. Strugglebeard's signature style is to use liqueur instead of vanilla extract in their cookies. The best seller is the limoncello cookie.
“Efforts like this are tailored specifically to us and are sorely needed,” McNair said. He wants to give back by starting the “Be A King Everyday” program (BAKE) for young black men. Mr McNair aims to give talks at schools and invite young men to his bakery to try making something. While their creations are cooling down, he talks to them about issues for young black men and sets up listening sessions with local experts, entrepreneurs, and business owners to talk about finances and more.
She also wants young men to see women in leadership positions. Most of Strugglebeard's leadership is Black women.
“Working with women and providing leadership is something we need to get better at. I’m trying to influence and influence black men,” McNair said. “I think my ideal target is young men, early college, late high school. When I talk to these men, they tell me where they're going and that there are others who look like them… After going through this experience, I am finally healing through baking, but now I want to share something with young men who are similar to me.”
Thanks to a grant from the Black Kitchen Initiative, the restaurant was able to break out of the red for the first time since opening.
“I already had a lot of money coming in from retirement and disability checks. I had to pay all these people before I had any income, but cookies hadn't sold a single piece yet. I was in the negative…I was borrowing money from people to pay my salary. Thanks to this grant, I was able to get back to a positive life and meet my needs. I was able to get enough supplies, and now I can pay my rent and employees without having to eat ramen for the rest of my life.”
The initiative, a collaboration between Heinz, the LEE Initiative, and Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice, aims to provide financial support to Black-owned food businesses and protect Black culinary culture across the United States. Recipients were selected by a committee of fellow Black business owners, and grants were awarded based on business need.
“We talked a lot about how to make this industry kinder and fairer. … It has to be a kinder industry for people,” said Co-founder of the LEE initiative, which stands for Lets Empower Employment. said Lindsey Ovkacek, Executive Director.
“For us, that means diversifying our leadership and ownership. The Black Kitchen Initiative is led by Ann Quatrano and Lisa Donovan, who formed Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice. We were lucky enough to work with chefs and bakers who were hosting a bake sale to raise funds for struggling Black-owned businesses. We held a few bake sales in 2017 and were fortunate enough to partner with Heinz to expand the program. They have a $1 million grant and a podcast to highlight the grant recipients. It promised to provide a “black kitchen initiative.” ”
Ofczek hopes to offer grants again this year. She said Heinz has the financial resources to support this effort and also help promote the stories of Black restaurateurs on its social media channels. McNair and Ofkaczek said grant winners will also receive resources such as webinars on how to set up a TikTok account and human resources best practices.
Mr. Harper won the grant twice. Now she will use her funds to expand her flagship restaurant in Bronzeville from 12 seats to 35 or 40 seats. She also uses some of the funds to give gifts to the staff she works with since she opened Cleo's in May 2019.
“I really appreciate this effort. … It's been outstanding, to be honest,” Harper said. “I haven't seen much of anything since the Black Lives Matter movement died down. I feel like at the time there were a lot of people trying to give money to black and brown people, but as time goes on, people I feel like we tend to forget about it, so a lot of the grants that we saw back then we don't necessarily see now.”
Harper's goal is to create a line of products with Cleo's name on them.
“I'm working on fish seafood fries and breaded chicken,” Harper said. “I'm working on a remoulade sauce. I'm working on a butter that makes people fall in love with our waffles, and a butter that makes people fall in love with our muffins. You can put your own little spin on it, and it's still available at Cleo's. It's on the table. We want to get it into as many homes as possible.”
