How to Support Black-Owned Businesses in Minnesota
Minnesota’s vibrant Black community is woven into the state’s cultural fabric, helping shape its food scene, arts organizations, and small businesses that stock everything from high-quality hiking bags to books from BIPOC authors and illustrators. Here are some popular Black-owned shops, restaurants, galleries and theaters to support and celebrate throughout the year.
Arts & Culture
Start off an afternoon at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery, which aims to preserve, record and celebrate the history, art and culture of Black people in Minnesota. The institution is located in Minneapolis' Near North neighborhood, a longtime community hub and launching pad for local entrepreneurs just outside downtown.
Past exhibits have featured a wide range of themes and influential figures, including painters, STEM researchers, photographers, abolitionists, designers and civil rights leaders. Its permanent exhibition, "Unbreakable: Celebrating the Resilience of African Americans in Minnesota," helps put the state's history in perspective, starting with the early settlers of the 1800s.
Building on that foundational knowledge are such performing arts pioneers as Penumbra Theatre. One of the nation’s first Black theater companies, it was founded in 1976 by Lou Bellamy and launched the career of legendary playwright August Wilson.
Today, Penumbra’s mission has expanded to become a center for racial healing that nurtures Black artists and advances equity, while still producing a wide range of plays that celebrate and uplift the Black American experience. Likewise, the New Dawn Theatre in St. Paul spotlights the work of minority, women and LGBTQ+ playwrights.
New Rules is a community workspace in North Minneapolis that also features an event space and a marketplace where you can purchase works by local artists. Black Garnet Books is a St. Paul store that highlights contemporary literature and nonfiction by BIPOC authors, including Zadie Smith, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Saara El-Arifi. It is now owned and operated by University of Minnesota professor Terresa Hardaway, the creative director of the graphic design studio Blackbird Revolt.
One thing that sets Black Garnet apart from the rest of the metro area's strong bookstore scene is its three book clubs, which focus on fantasy titles, graphic novels and abolitionist works. Joining is free and includes quarterly book club meetups, discounts on featured titles and social reading hours on Sunday evenings. Black Garnet can also be found at pop-up events throughout the metro area, like the ongoing Lit & Libations book fair at King Coil Spirits.
Food & Drink
Aretha Franklin is among the many Black legends on the walls of the soul food staple Mama Sheila’s House of Soul. Leave your inhibitions at the door and go for the all-you-can-eat buffet or try a heaping serving of jerk chicken at Angelea’s Soul Food Kitchen, a family-run operation inspired by matriarch Angelea Rogers, who passed away in 2017.
At Soul Bowl, diners can build their own meat, side and cornbread combos, or choose from such perfectly balanced pairings as fried chicken, collard greens, candied yams and mac and cheese (Southern Hospitality), or jerk chicken, pineapple, green onions, yellow rice and fried plantains (Caribe). Co-owners Gerard and Brittney Klass also run two other concepts in downtown Minneapolis' Mill District: a daytime cafe (C.R.E.A.M.) and a full-service restaurant (Klassics Kitchen + Cocktails).
Another fast-casual favorite is Afro Deli, where you can order gyro-stuffed chapati wraps or a thinly sliced Somali steak sandwich. Vegetarians can venture to Trio Plant-Based in Minneapolis' popular Midtown Global Market for plant-based offerings like a “BBQ jackfruit” wrap filled with Southern coleslaw, pepper jack cheese and cilantro aioli.
For a hint of habanero-laced heat, head to Pimento Jamaican Kitchen for a jerk chicken sandwich on a milk bun. You’ll not only be savoring some of the best Jamaican food in town — centered on seasonal and natural ingredients — but you'll also be supporting a local business that pours time and energy into its own nationally recognized nonprofit (Pimento Relief Services).
Take a day trip outside Minneapolis-St. Paul to keep the culinary finds coming. At Krewe in downtown St. Joseph, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to the Big Easy with the flavors that make up the melting pot of New Orleans, from Creole and Cajun to Italian, Irish and Vietnamese.
You can also pick up mouthwatering bread, pies, pastries and other treats at the onsite bakery Flour and Flower, run by Krewe co-owner Erin Lucas.
For a taste of authentic East African cuisine, head to Willmar. There you’ll find two standout Somali restaurants: Somali Star and Faafan Restaurant. Check out a complete rundown of fantastic African fare in the Twin Cities here.
Rochester also has its share of East African spots. It's home to Francisco’s, a standout Jamaican-owned, family-run restaurant serving Jamaican and Cuban food, and Jersey Jo’s, another family-run eatery serving cheesesteaks and other American classics.
Read about Minnesota's AAPI, Native American and Latino communities.