Q&A: What is the state and future of Black-owned restaurants in Salem?
In the last few years, Black-owned food businesses in Salem have been on a slow but steady rise. The Statesman Journal talked to two owners and a former owner about their experiences in Salem and the future of the local industry.
The newspaper talked with Riegna Breaux, who works at Taproot's Old Mill Cafe, runs a biweekly pop-up out of the Dehn Bar and is the former owner of Tasten Cee BBQ Soul Food; Russell Dickerson and David Girley of Whuttle's Barbecue; and Jonathan Jones of Epilogue Kitchen and Icarus Wings and Things.
What is your experience working and running your business in Salem and how does it compare to other cities?
Breaux: In California, it's different. I can sell pigpots and people would support me because they'd know what it is. Here, everybody is really picky ... They don't know what soul food is, and that it's an American cuisine. It's American because it was what we were cooking for our masters when they wanted fried chicken and we would take the leftovers. I wanna make a lot more ... but I know people here would not be receptive to that.
Girley: We've been doing catering over 22 years ... We're not from Salem, so it's been a whole new adventure but we'd always passed through before. ... been a challenge because the opportunity is great, but how people like their food in southern California and here is so different. Salem also has been a much slower pace than we had been used to - things close so early here! ... Everybody for the most part has been receptive to us here. It took some getting used to, as I'm used to seeing more diversity, but we're enjoying meeting folks.
Jones: First, everything that we've gone through - historically, we've been here five years and the bulk has been difficult with various things happening to us, our building, but we're trying really hard to embrace the positive change in spite of what is negatively happening. Recently, the experience has been fairly good. As a restaurant, it's difficult but that's the industry as it's overall having a difficult time regardless of what you're running ... We've dealt with our own fair share of abuses in this white city but powered through them in spite of being in the face of that adversity and that's the piece we're focused on and excited about. We're the community that has been built against the white supremacy that has been a part of Salem's history.
How do you feel as one of the few Black food businesses? Do you feel supported by other local businesses?
Breaux: I feel very supported by fellow Black-owned food businesses. Before I opened Tasten Cee, I sat down with John from Epilogue and he offered all his support and help he could. I didn't know who Toph (Christopher Holland) was, didn’t even know Taproot was owned by a Black man until I met him. Especially now because I work for Taproot and am the only African American woman cooking in the kitchen, sometimes I have to deal with things and Toph takes care of it. I thought I was being discriminated one time and he handled it and he’s a big support for me. ... I closed Tasten Cee in December 2022, walked into the Dehn Bar in January. I asked if I could rent the kitchen and they said yes ... When everyone got a hold of where I was, my customers from before and new ones now support me at the Dehn. It's nice to see regulars still around so it brings excitement.
Girley: The support we get for our restaurant is great ... But the thing about it is, the majority of our clientele are white ... The support from other businesses is growing and developing ... Getting word of mouth has helped us, as we're a year and a half in. Salem moves at a slower pace and they got to warm up to you before they'll support you ... We've had competitors come in to bother us, but a lady brought her son in and pointed at our business, and she said 'these are Black men and you can be just like them and own your own business' ... Had that happen three, four times but the fact you're here and they can point and say, 'that's a Black-owned business' — we didn't think about it at the time and realize we'd be something to shoot for and to motivate like that.
Jones: It's a mixed bag, if anything. We have community that we are friendly with, partnered with and feel good sending our customers to and vice versa. If you don't have haters, you don't have anything worth talking about. It's not all that important at this point, as I don't have much to prove with two James Beard Award nominations, a bunch of local things and being here five years. We just keep our head down, do our thing and we welcome the community that's being built ... As a restaurant owner, it is so hard to get out and do anything because you're spending all your time making things work. There is the old guard that refuses to adapt and accept new people, who have the will want to be here, but dinosaurs die so they'll do things in their corner and everyone interesting will build something new.
How has running a business over the last few years changed?
Breaux: I think being a Black-owned business in Oregon period is a hard job. Sometimes it can be overwhelming because we’re trying to meet others’ expectations but it wasn't in the business plan. We're trying to make customers happy but sometimes you can’t make everybody happy and business is business ... As a Black community we try to support each other, as far as downtown, and even Kolby’s Restaurant Bar and Billiards owner (Kevin Kyle) has come in and has come in more than I can count. So the support is there, but as far as financial help, it isn’t there.
Girley: We're always working on our menu, and even seen it at our competitors, but we keep it to ourselves and keep going. We're just staying the course and enjoying the ride and letting people see how determined we are about making this thing work. ... We proved a lot of people wrong and being very successful far beyond what we thought. Some days we're sold out and that's the great thing about it.
Jones: More hungry people, meaning people who want to become chefs, do interesting things with what they're creating, and when we started there wasn't much happening in terms of risk. Menus were the same and now there are people who are putting their own identity into their food and I'm interested in that. That is part of why we're still here, because we're seeing people who are trying to make it interesting instead of just regressing or staying the same. There's more innovation and attempts at something new. The Salem public is a hard nut to crack, and to have new dining patterns takes a long time. It's very different from other cities that embrace anything new and have that hunger. Here we have to prod.
How do you feel about more Black-owned businesses starting to open in Salem? Do you talk to owners of other Black-owned businesses?
Breaux: I think it’s much needed to show we’re able to do this and not what media or on the internet is showing us to be. We're educated and out here and making an effort to feed our family. I got here in 2014 and there were very few African Americans in Salem, and now they're like everywhere, so I think businesses need to be everywhere. And right now I work for Toph and I was brought in as he has four different restaurants (Taproot Lounge and Cafe, Old Mill Cafe, For Tomorrow We Die Brewing and Angel's Share Barrel House) and I work at the Old Mill Cafe. With me there – again, the only African American in the building – at first I thought it would be difficult because of the folks that come into the cafe, but if you treat a person like a human they’ll act like they’re human.
Dickerson: We've had young folks come from Eugene and ask us about business, how to get started and talked to us, even the young Hispanic kids have talked and it would be exciting to see more businesses of color come up.
Girley: There are a lot of gatekeepers, and if you are in their system you can go in but if you're not, outsiders get it harder and that's so prevalent here. There are the gatekeeper society of, they're for Black business and then go to meetings and jump through all these hoops and fall through with what they say. So I will use it as a networking tool, but when you see the testimonies of other Black business owners and how they barely make it, how they don't get support and hear all these horror stories, we had to ignore that to make it. But if we can get a more diverse workforce and businesses there around the state Capitol that would be great. ... If we can make it easier for folks to pursue their dreams of owning their own businesses, than you'll have more people willing to take the chance.
Jones: I hope to see more business happen ... The more the merrier, and refreshing to see businesses popping up. I need to start paying attention outside of the food world, but it's hard.
What challenges have you gone through other business owners may have not because you are a Black-owned business?
Breaux: The color thing definitely, I can’t see anything else except the color thing. When I’m at the Dehn Bar you get all sorts of people. One day this lady came in and the bartender said 'Riegna is making food and you can talk to her' and then the lady looked at me and said 'whatever it is, I don't want it.' I said 'well I'll feed you anyway.' It’s the perception people have of African Americans and we’re no different than them, it’s just the skin color ... When I had Tasten Cee, everyone that came into the restaurant was respectful. Was I scared? Oh yeah ... When I opened there was a group of guys standing across the street and I called them over and I didn't know them. I asked them what they were doing and they said the Proud Boys were going to come by but we’re here to protect your restaurant. There was a group from the neighborhood to protect me and I had no idea, I was honored but also scared.
Girley: More people come in with the mindset that we don't know what we're doing, and saying out loud 'you won't even last six months' then 'can't believe you've been here for a year.' It's like we have to prove that we have business sense, savvy and how we're not cooking for anyone else and are navigating our own entrepreneurship. I don't think that's the mindset they go into not Black-owned business, they gasp when they see it's a Black-owned business and the stigma that Black people don't know and can't run their own business. Can cook, but don't wanna give their dollar to us, and we have to keep proving ourselves for that. ... There's also racial remarks, when they ask us in a condescending Southern drawl, in a real mean way but we talk to them intellectually. Those folks that come by with snide comments I don't think would do that at non-Black owned place.
Jones: Hate crimes. For me, personally and the way we exist in this space, that's the biggest one. There is a definite thread of hatred that is difficult to exist around, it's very hard to think about day to day when someone has defaced your business because of your race, or go home and look at reports when you're worried if someone is going to throw a brick through your window. But that has faded, and there's more support and is easier to shrug some of that off than it was before.
What do you think the future of more Black-owned food businesses coming into the Salem-area is?
Breaux: I think it’s a necessary thing and everyone carries a different view of life of how things should be made, ran, etc. And I think Salem is so used to the same old things and being in old ways, that we need new to step in to see change. Without Black businesses thriving and opening, we’ll never see that change. But we also need the financial help to stay open and support from our community to do so.
Dickerson: We want to see more (businesses) in brick and mortars, but at least pop-ups are a start. Funding should be made available to go through what it takes to get their business going, train them up and then see how to help them with funding to move them into the next phase. ... We started with catering, then food truck and now we're here.
Girley: We would like to see more minorities, Black-owned in Salem, because it's the state capital. Portland is where the diversity is, but all the legislative stuff is here and shouldn't the city reflect that as well? It's all right here, so I feel that, hope that Salem would see the need to expand and be open to other nationalities and differences, not just predominantly white, and to do what they can to make people feel welcome. Like, your business is welcome! Because what have (the city) done? What have they done for the community to let them know we're here beyond forums ... have a learning center, city commerce to have set up to welcome you and equip you, develop some packages of info for such and such. Knowledge is power, they just don't know where to start. If they can do that, more people would take that. Owning a business is taking a risk and more folks would be apt to do that.
Jones: I would hope to start building a stronger coalition because it does take some unity to fight against the good old boys club that runs things, and no one wants to admit or talk about it. There's a few folks in town who make decisions on the fabric of the city, so with more folks together we could get more change going. With more Black-owned and other minority-owned businesses coming in, we could prioritize things differently and then kick start the change we want to see, like modernization of our city.
What would you want folks outside of the restaurant industry to know about being a Black-owned business in Salem?
Breaux: We're here, come support us, come get to know who we are, because without getting to know us you can’t enjoy something you don’t know anything about. ... (A guy) came to the restaurant and I asked, 'you want some greens?' He said 'I don't know what it is and I don't want to try it.' But I asked if he wanted to try a sample. And he said he would've never put this in his mouth if I never gave him some to try.
Dickerson: We got a lot of jokes.
Girley: We're men of faith and men of family, and we are also people people. We love people, come by and see us, we'll talk and laugh.
Jones: Walking into anyone's business, whether Italian, woman-owned, and automatically knowing what cuisine (you think) they'll make is a racist stance. To allow that performance of your ideas of what their racial identity food should be is a major thing we run into and fairly frequently. People assume that my menu will be soul food and not ask themselves what does that mean, why am I thinking that, it's a pigeonholed way to view things ... Allow your experiences to be what it is, and not what you want it to be. Also, just because we're Black-owned does not mean that only Black people eat here - it's really weird and not a thing. We're here for everyone and I just happen to also be a Black man.
Em Chan covers food and dining at the Statesman Journal. You can reach her at echan@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @catchuptoemily.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Black-owned restaurants on diversity in Salem, Oregon food scene
