The tragic death of George Floyd erupted in mass protests worldwide. As people of color faced the latest wave of brutality and violence at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the most vulnerable African Americans were put at even greater risks. Although most restaurant owners in the F&B industry changed profile pictures to black squares on their Facebook and Instagram feeds, fewer spoke on ethnic inequality within the industry.

Restaurants, cafes, bars, suppliers, vendors, and distributors run by people of color stabilize communities and bring a sense of inclusion and diversity. However, systemic racism makes their struggle challenging.

Likewise, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many African American-based restaurants to close their doors. “When white people have a cold, black people get pneumonia” is the perfect example of how systemic racism and the Covid-19 recession have made businesses struggle to survive in the U.S.

Dismantling the systemic racism, protecting African American-owned businesses, and providing them with valuable business-building and technology resources are the most practical ways to save restaurants from demise.

The KEXY Equity Initiative (KEI) aims to promote diversity and inclusivity by enabling people of color to access innovative resources, make their establishments prosper, and earn deeper trust within the industry. Read on!

People of Color and the Restaurant Industry’s Issue

Racial discrimination is one of the most salient problems in the restaurant industry. African American restaurant owners experience unfair treatment, lack of access to funds, unequal pay, racial harassment, discriminatory hiring and firing, and ineffective job and business classification.

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted companies across different industries. The National Restaurant Association reports that 17% or over 110,000 restaurants, cafes, and bars, shut their doors permanently due to the pandemic. Staying open and running business operations are a daily struggle for others.

Access to funding and venture capital is one of the most significant factors for businesses in the F&B industry to survive economic recessions. Restaurants owned by African Americans and Hispanics were hit harder during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to CBS News, fewer minority business owners accessed the Paycheck Protection Program Loans. Likewise, research shows that only 12% of African American business owners who applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan received one.

One report estimates that 40% of businesses, including restaurants, won’t outlast the Covid-19 pandemic compared to 17% of companies owned by white people. Although these inequities are not new to the restaurant sector, KEI believes in doing things to support African American communities and black-owned restaurants. Here are a few issues faced by African American restaurant owners.

Budget Problems

Running out of funds or money is the worst scenario for restaurants out of everything that can go wrong. People of color who want to run

or maintain their restaurant businesses have low access to funds.

At the same time, they don’t have enough resources, including premium technology tools, to approximate costs adequately. Not analyzing your budget can lead to unforeseen emergencies and bring the business on the verge of bankruptcy.

Lack of Automation

Most African American restaurant owners, managers, and staff follow the layman’s strategy of tracking their inventory with manual registers and Excel sheets, leading to increased workload and risks of errors. Manual tracking, monitoring, and analyzing large volumes of data takes a lot of time, leads to mistakes, and reduces the overall efficiency.

Inaccurate Forecasting

The absence of forecast or inaccurate forecast demand can cause businesses, including restaurants, cafes, bars, suppliers, and distributors in the F&B industry, to lose their revenues. The primary reason black-owned businesses experience this issue is the lack of access to premium forecasting tools.

Keep in mind that forecasting plays a critical role in the accurate management of food and beverage inventory. On the other hand, not having proper software or tools for forecasting can lead to overstocking of the food and beverage inventory, increasing the risk of getting wasted or understocking the inventory.

KEXY’s KEI Initiative Building Supportive Ecosystems

According to the Hustle, 58% of businesses owned by people of color were at higher risk of losing revenues during the pre-pandemic era.

At the same time, only 27% of companies owned by white people were at risk of financial distress before the Covid-19 pandemic.

So, African Americans in all industries, including the restaurant sector, have never had an equal opportunity to leverage the benefits of business ownership. According to ,

15% of people in the U.S who belong to the white ethnic group hold significant business equity. – McKinsey’s report

In contrast, 5% of minority groups, including African Americans, hold business equity. The report highlights that 4% of businesses owned by people of color survive during the first two years or startup stage despite over 20% of people starting their companies.

The KEXY Equity Initiative (KEI) aims to develop genuine, efficient, and lasting solidarity among black, indigenous, and people of color by providing a hi-tech digital platform to streamline their restaurant or supply/distribution businesses.

The purpose of KEI is to bring inclusivity, promote diversity, disengage native invisibility, and dismantle white supremacy by equipping restaurant owners to leverage the power of technology and compete against their white counterparts.

KEI aims to provide businesses in the F&B industry with free-of-cost data-driven technology, allowing them to bridge communication gaps, analyze large volumes of data, increase sales, reduce costs, boost processes/operations, build business reputation, and improve the overall business bottom line.

Thrive Your Business With KEXY

KEXY enables restaurants, suppliers, and distributors to leverage separate platforms, such as KEXY Suite and KEXY Deals, to streamline their business operations.

You can use KEXY alongside your marketing and sales tools to create a balanced approach, improve your business processes, stay competitive, increase sales, improve reputation, and generate higher ROIs.

For instance, KEXY Deals allow suppliers and distributors to reach their target audiences and engage their existing customers. It enables suppliers and distributors to find restaurants, bars, and cafes in the local area with utmost interest in their products/services.

Moreover, you can use KEXY’s analytics to promote your business and stay competitive in the market via inventory tracking and purchasing behavior analysis tools.

As an African American owner of a food and beverage supply or distribution company, you can drive more customers, multiply your sales, and expand your business.

KEXY DEALS For Suppliers & Distributors

KEXY Deals is an innovative platform for suppliers and distributors, allowing them to analyze competitors’ data in real-time, know what they are doing, and generate valuable insights to stay ahead in the market. It enables you to make informed decisions by producing meaningful information from massive volumes of data.

KEXY SUITE For Restaurant & Bars

KEXY Suite is a free platform for restaurants, cafes, and bars to connect with vendors, find and leverage exclusive deals, and streamline business operations. Remember, KEXY is not a POS system or basic inventory management software.

It is an innovative platform that enables restaurants to improve their business relationships with supplies and distributors and overcome berries/issues. Unlike manual spreadsheets, phone calls, and registers, KEXY offers a one-click ordering system, giving you peace of mind by increasing efficiency.

Moreover, KEXY Suite can help you optimize inventory management operations and save money. It has advanced, cutting-edge features that enable you to reduce waste, maintain real-time inventory tracking, monitor orders, and bring accuracy in deliveries.

Final Words

People of color who run restaurants or related businesses experience many problems, such as systemic racism, lack of access to funds, and ineffective implementation of relevant technologies, tools, and software applications.

The primary reason black-owned restaurants are behind in the race of technology is costly software and tools. That’s why KEI ensures minority restaurant owners and businesses in the F&B and hospitality industry access relevant technologies and streamline their operations.

KEXY Suite and KEXY Deals are free data-driven technologies to help minority-owned restaurants and suppliers/distributors streamline communication, perform better data analysis, reach their target audience, reduce cost, and improve business efficiency.