Baltimore Restaurant Week has grown into a major city-wide attraction, but minority-owned restaurants are not often visible participants in the event. A group of several African-American restaurateurs and Radio One hope to change that with the creation of the Urban Life Restaurant Week, scheduled to take place between Jan. 26 and Feb. 4.
The group gathered on Oct. 26 to discuss plans for the event, with an eye on generating new patrons for participating African-American-owned businesses. Radio One’s Baltimore stations look to support the new 10-day event with advertising targeted at their estimated 1.2 million listeners.
Among the ideas proposed at the meeting were shuttles to ferry patrons between the participating restaurants; the inclusion of partners such as the Downtown Partnership and the established Baltimore Restaurant Week; and a budget for the new event.
There are currently 30 to 40 Black-owned restaurants in the Greater Baltimore area, including Baltimore County, Howard County, and Anne Arundel County. Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh and Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz both said they support the idea and would welcome its expansion into their counties.