Under the umbrella of food entrepreneurship, influence is not just a matter of social media fame or creating a trendy menu.
It’s about community, authenticity, and staying connected to your mission. Building a food brand isn’t just about creating a product; it’s about filling a gap and ensuring the brand resonates with people’s lived experiences.
This was one of the many messages laid out at EatOkra’s Culinary Creatives Conference in New York City last year, an event where Black food owners and operators gathered to showcase ideas and spark progress. One group of entrepreneurs and marketers shared their personal journeys of building influential food brands, presenting the challenges and rewards along the way.
For JaMor Johnson, cofounder of Jamaican concept Jerk at Nite, the company started by solving a specific problem: the lack of late-night food options for students at his college.
“We were solving a problem,” Johnson said. “There weren’t many options available for students late at night, besides the more processed stuff.”
Johnson’s mission to serve his community, especially students who don’t have convenient or healthy food options, became the bedrock of Jerk at Nite’s influence. He noted one of the key components of building trust with his audience was consistency.
That steadiness, coupled with a commitment to addressing real, localized issues, helped Jerk at Nite establish a connection with its customers.
On the other hand, Jatee Kearsley’s journey with Je T’aime Patisserie in Brooklyn involved incorporating personal values and family needs into her business model. She decided early on to accept EBT payments at her bakery, which generated controversy.
“It was never not an option for me to make sure that my own family, who’s on EBT, is able to come to my store and buy things with whatever form of payment that they have available to them,” Kearsley said. “Who am I to not allow [customers] to be able to use whatever form of payment when my own family members—and low key me—wish I had food stamps? When people were like, ‘Oh, you don’t want those people in your store,’ I was like, ‘What people? Those people are my friends, those people are my family, those people are in this community.’ Who am I to be in a community where they can’t even come to their local bakery and buy a croissant?”
Marketing and Storytelling in the Digital Age
While building a food brand starts with community and authenticity, today’s entrepreneurs also face the challenge of navigating a rapidly changing marketing landscape. Social media has fundamentally transformed how brands engage with their audiences, and platforms like TikTok have created unprecedented opportunities for visibility. Nialah Baker, who works with brand management consultancy Piece to the Puzzle, said marketing has shifted from being all about popularity to being more about “discovery and community.”
Baker pointed out that in the food space, audiences are increasingly looking for brands that align with their values, whether that’s supporting local businesses, advocating for sustainability, or highlighting cultural traditions.
Eden Hagos of Black Foodie—a TikTok account with more than 100,000 followers—underscored the importance of storytelling in today’s food landscape, saying TikTok has changed the game for small businesses by removing barriers to entry. She emphasized creators don’t need a publicist or a big marketing budget anymore. If someone has a phone, they can create content that connects with people. She recounted how her first TikTok video reached nearly a million people by chance, proving the power of authentic, relatable content.
TikTok, with its quick, raw, and sometimes unpolished nature, allows food brands to share their stories in a way that resonates more deeply with their audiences than traditional forms of advertising. This push toward community-driven marketing means food brands no longer need to rely on traditional gatekeepers, such as media outlets or large advertising campaigns, to get noticed, Hagos said. Instead, the success of a food brand can hinge on how well it engages with its community and how effectively it tells its story.
Baker said the influencer space is shifting.
“It’s becoming more about their community and they’re the ones that are leading, especially when it comes to what’s good and what’s not,” Baker said. “Most people watch a video that might look good, but then they’ll read the comments.”
For entrepreneurs like Hagos, this new landscape has democratized access to visibility. But it’s also raised the stakes: brands must be more intentional and transparent than ever before in how they engage with their customers.
“I think especially when it comes to food, people want to know where their food comes from,” Hagos said. “They want to know why you added hibiscus or why the spice comes straight from Ethiopia. What makes that so important? How does that change the flavor? I think the internet can be a very crowded space but the deeper you can go into what makes you special, what makes you unique, why you’re so passionate, I think the more people would resonate with you and then be more likely to choose you above the others.”
The Double-Edged Sword of Virality
While going viral can catapult a brand into the spotlight, it also comes with challenges that many entrepreneurs are unprepared for.
Kearsley said the sudden influx of attention when Je T’aime Patisserie went viral nearly overwhelmed her business. The store went from selling six chocolate croissants per day to 50 overnight. She had to sleep in her bakery for three days to keep up. Her dishwasher broke down at some point as well.
“When you sell out every single day, and you got people going on Google and Yelp saying I traveled three hours, I can’t control selling out. I’m just nine months in business,” she said.
For Kearsley, the key to surviving the storm was consistency—in both product quality and in managing customer expectations. Even under the pressures of increased demand and public scrutiny, staying true to the core values of her brand helped her weather the storm.
“No matter what you do, people are not going to be satisfied,” Kearsley said. “So you have to get into your mind like listen, ‘I’m doing these the best that I can.’”
Aligning Values for Mutual Growth
The panelists also vocalized the importance of strategic collaborations and partnerships in building a brand with influence, but also stressed that not all collaborations are created equal.
Hagos spoke about the importance of standing on values when considering partnerships.
“Don’t just chase the money,” she said. “In 2020, for a content creator, it was a big year. There was a pandemic. But then also when Black Lives Matter started going, and brands started paying attention to the people they had been ignoring for years. It’s really easy to get tempted and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to go here, I’m going to do this, but it might not align. And the same thing happens with people when you start shining, when you start winning, when you start having great ideas and being creative, people are drawn to you and that might not be the right people.”
Baker said brands need to be discerning when choosing partners, particularly when it comes to corporate collaborations. She uses an example of how one large company went viral for all the wrong reasons after a marketing misstep that misrepresented the Black community. She advised operators to research who companies have partnered with in the past and ask themselves whether that aligns with their values.
According to Tiffaine Stephens from Pepsi Dig In—a venture that assists Black-owned businesses—the most successful collaborations are often with brands or individuals who have something to prove.
“At Pepsi, we’re the number three soft drink now. We’ve got this underdog energy, and we’ve found that partnering with other brands who also have something to prove creates a powerful synergy,” she said. “Together, we can build something that pushes both brands forward.”
The panelists also discussed the importance of networking across different spaces. Hagos shared her experiences of collaborating with other food entrepreneurs and creators, noting that opportunities often come from unexpected places.
“Some of my biggest partnerships came from people I never expected, like old classmates or people I’d been kind to years ago,” she said.
The road to building a food brand with influence is often filled with sleepless nights, overwhelming demand, and unexpected challenges. But for each of these entrepreneurs, the rewards far outweighed the obstacles.
For Kearsley, it’s about waking up each day with a renewed sense of purpose, despite the challenges that come with running a bakery.
“Every morning, I look in the mirror and tell myself, ‘I love you, and you’re doing it, girl,’” she said. That affirmation, combined with her faith, keeps her grounded as she continues to grow Je T’aime Patisserie.
