Harlem Residents Look to Support Local Food Entrepreneurs

Support for entrepreneurs lacking from landlords, not neighborhood 

On my continuing journey to learn about the high-risk/high-reward world of food entrepreneurship in NYC’s Harlem neighborhood, I have talked to countless restaurant owners and business experts. But, as the saying goes in the restaurant industry—it is the customer who is always right.

In this spirit, I spent an afternoon in the upcoming neighborhood of SoHa (that’s South Harlem for those of us who didn’t know, including myself) talking to residents about their views of the area’s burgeoning restaurant scene. After spending only a few minutes with “Seasoned Vegan’s” Brenda Beener outside her future storefront on 113 and St. Nicholas, a half-dozen local residents came up asking: “Are you opening soon?” “What kind of restaurant is it?” “What happened to the last place in this space?”

While some residents were giddy over the idea of a new restaurant and others even volunteered to help cook free of charge, one neighbor expressed concern for the future of Harlem’s food start-up scene.

“We’ve been waiting forever for something to come,” said longtime Harlemite Sandra Daley about the space on 113th, where Seasoned Vegan will make its home. “It would be great for the neighborhood.”

Daley has noticed a frighteningly quick in neighborhood food start-ups. Take the beautiful corner spot on St. Nicholas and 113. Before Beener, it was a fish and chips joint that didn’t even make it to opening day, and before that it was a clothing retail store for less than six months.

“You’re trying to support shop-owners of color, but they’re only open a year and then gone,” said Daley, who has noticed than many of the hip and successful joints on Frederick Douglass are not owned by African Americans in the community. “There’s a lot of turnover in these restaurants.”

Harlem’s skyrocketing rates might be an unidentifiable villain for the failure of so many food entrepreneurs in the area, but Daley sees the responsibility fall on very real people—the landlords. “You gotta give folks a break,” she said when asked what can be done to help foster entrepreneurship. “(The landlords) need to come up with a better way to work with entrepreneurs in this neighborhood.” Instead, landlords looking to capitalize on Harlem’s resurgence are charging upwards of 40 percent higher rent than before 2008.

But Daley is not at all pessimistic about Seasoned Vegan’s potential—in fact, she sees a lot of vegan food in her future. It might not be the bright lights of Frederick Douglass’ “Restaurant Row,” but Beener’s corner spot certainly has its charm.

“(Restaurant Row) is thriving, but sadly there isn’t nearly as much support for restaurants here,” lamented Daley, who waited to support the fish and chips place, which never made it to opening day. “People are looking for a reason to come, hangout, and give Frederick Douglass Blvd. a run for its money.”