Eat Okra co-founder Anthony Edwards in a pink shirt on the sidewalk.
Eat Okra co-founder Anthony Edwards. (Courtesy Eat Okra)

Find Black-Owned Restaurants Near You With the Eat Okra App

The Eat Okra app provides the ultimate directory of Black-owned food and drink businesses across America.
By Aileen Kwun
August 29, 2020
1 minute read

Several months into the pandemic, the restaurant industry remains among the hardest hit in the U.S., with scant evidence that any substantial support will come from the federal government. For many independent businesses around the country—particularly those run by BIPOC entrepreneurs, who have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus-related losses—their fates lie directly in continuing sales. Everyday citizens are left with little recourse than to volunteer for and donate to the causes we support, and to vote with our dollars. One resource for doing so is the Eat Okra app, founded by New York couple Anthony and Janique Edwards in 2016, which gives a boost of visibility to Black-owned businesses with its directory of more than 2,800 bakeries, cafés, food trucks, bars, and wineries in more than 30 cities across the country. A welcome alternative to apps like Yelp or FourSquare, Eat Okra not only offers a gateway to a wide array of cuisines, but a service that pays it forward by supporting and amplifying access to local, homegrown economies.