When hanger hits, you’ll want to reach for something nourishing — perhaps it’s a high protein chocolate shake or a bit of last night’s leftover mac and cheese. If you want to make your cravings even more satisfying, consider supporting a small, Black-owned business, so you know your money is going to support Black entrepreneurs and/or sustain give-back programs.
Here are 20 Black-owned food brands you can add to your cart on your next grocery run. The items on this list — ranging from coffee to a midday snack and full meals — can be purchased at your local Whole Foods, on Amazon, and on the brands’ website. Supporting these smaller businesses will let you discover new flavors you may have not tasted before. Happy shopping!
Exau Olive Oil
Extend the olive branch! Skyler Mapes, co-owner of Exau Olive Oil, is the first Black woman to co-own an olive oil brand. The oil is made in Italy where her husband is from and they produced three different blends: Avus, Turi and Lina.
Oh-Mazing
Based in Washington, D.C., Oh-Mazing offers their granola snack in many flavors, including original, cranberry orange, lemon bar, and oatmeal raisin. What’s so amazing about this company is that founder Stephanie Williams was able to achieve such delicious treats while using organic ingredients. They’re also nut-free and gluten-free. You can find the bars at Whole Foods and online.
McBride Sisters Wine
With “one delicious glass of wine at a time,” McBride sisters Robin and Andrea made their mark with their “She Can” wine cans to empower all women around the world. Pair their wine with a cozy pasta dish on your next girls night or a romantic night in. Find their wine at your local Trader Joe’s, Target or Walmart, as well as online.
Blk and Bold
Upgrade your mornings with a fresh cup of Blk and Bold coffee or tea founded by Rod Johnson and Pernell Cezar. Coffee lovers can find a variety of dark, medium, and light roast blends in many different flavors including honey, caramel, and other nutty blends. Tea fans can find more fruity flavors, such as passion fruit, peach, and hibiscus among other common flavors like earl gray and chamomile.
Major’s Project Pop
Owner and founder Chauniqua Major started Project Pops after realizing a lot of the popcorn snacks on the market had “too many ingredients she couldn’t pronounce.” Her company is an all-organic, vegan product including coconut oil and Himalayan salt. To top it all off, Major created a gold pack where you can enjoy 24k gold leaf with your popcorn!
Atlas Monroe
Atlas Monroe have changed the game for healthy eating with their plant-based, mouthwatering meals such as vegan fried chicken. Ribs and Caribbean rice and peas are among the many other options they offer. While Founder Deborah Torres with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, the company is on track to becoming “the largest vegan fried chicken manufacturer in the world.”
Partake Foods
Partake Foods has it all! From soft cookies to hard cookies, baking mixes, and breakfast mixes, there is something for everyone to enjoy, including those with dietary restrictions. Founder and CEO Denise Woodward produced a product that was gluten-free, vegan, and soy-free with no artificial flavors while still being an enjoyable treat. You can find flavors such as chocolate chip, funfetti, ginger snap, lemon, cookie butter and double chocolate at Whole Foods, Target and Trader Joe’s.
Capital City
Your BBQ just got a whole lot better with this sauce. Owner Arsha Jones created this versatile sauce to be used as a marinade, glaze, dipping sauce or finishing sauce with your next meal. Capital City’s Hot Mambo Sauce is a sweet and spicy blend of cayenne and habanero. For those who can’t take the heat, there is a mild option available. This product can be found online and in Target.
Trade Street Jam Co.
Say goodbye to Smuckers, and hello to Trade Street Jam! This company is introducing new jam flavors, while being gluten-free, vegan and low-calorie. These flavors include strawberry chipotle and fig; smoked peach; plum and rose; sour cherry ginger; blueberry lemon basil; blackberry mullet merlot; and spicy vanilla kiwi. Founder Ashley Rouse produces all her products with fresh ingredients made in-house from scratch. In addition to jam, she produces sauces, cocktail elixirs, and baking mixes.
Yummy Spoonfuls
Founder Agatha Achindu created Yummy Spoonfuls to help children get the best nutrients in every bite. “Super delicious, secretly nutritious,” she found a way to transform those vegetables into tasty, hearty meals such as mac and cheese, chicken and sweet potato bites, turkey and spinach bites, pancakes, and burritos. Yummy Spoonfuls can be found at your local Walmart.
Kahawa 1893
Kenyan native and founder of Kahawa 1893 Margaret Nyamumbo started her own company offering coffee and tea. The term Kahawa means coffee in Swahili, the native language of Kenya. The coffee blends, which come in dark, medium, and light roasts, are all named after African countries with flavors such as French roast, chai spice, and peaberry. Tea flavors include cream earl gray, Irish breakfast, red hibiscus, purple tea, English tea and Kenya Oolong. These products can be found in Trader Joe’s and Target.
Creamalicious Ice Cream
The fusion of southern flavors and ice cream was inspired by four generations of family recipes that lead to the making of Creamalicious. Founder Liz Rogers created these ice cream flavors to stimulate the comfort flavors of home. This creamy indulgent offers flavors such as banana pudding, caramel pound cake, pecan pie, peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, bourbon cake, apple cobbler, and many more.
Michele Foods
Forget Aunt Jemima, Michele is the new way to go! What started as a simple combination of honey, cream, and butter turned into a million-dollar syrup company. Today, Michele Foods syrup is sold in more than “8,000 stores nationwide,” including Target and Safeway. The company has added two new flavors beyond the original Honey Creme flavor: Butter Creme and Maple Creme.
Me and the Bees Lemonade
Building her empire at four years old, Founder of Me and the Bees Lemonade Mikaila Ulmer is now 15-years-old and is continuing to expand her 11 million dollar business. Using 100% fresh-squeezed lemons, Ulmer’s lemonades include classic, mint, ginger, prickly pear, and black cherry. Me and the Bees Lemonade can be found at Whole Foods.
Sanaia Applesauce
This dairy-free, plant-based applesauce company took the child-favorite snack and upgraded it to an adult snack with exotic flavors. Based on Bahamian flavors, Keisha Smith-Jeremie created four flavors of applesauce. The two flavors that are ready to purchase at Whole Foods are the original unsweetened applesauce and the guava-flavored applesauce. The two new flavors are blackberry and hibiscus.
Essie Spice
Essie Bartels, founder of Essie Spice, created her spices and sauces using flavor profiles from West Africa fused with international flavors. These blends consist of loff, which was inspired by jollof rice, mango chili medley, mekko dry rub, tamarindoh and coco-for-garlic. The mango chili is great , on crepes, cheese and crackers, and on steak. The mekko dry rub is best on all proteins, mixed with olive oil for dipping, or sprinkled over popcorn. Tamarindoh can be used as a glaze, in desserts, or as a jam! Used in soups, stews and marinades, coco-for-garlic can also be added to omelets, frittatas, quiches and pizzas.
Vicky Cakes
There’s no better breakfast than a fresh stack of fluffy pancakes and waffles smothered in syrup and butter! Vicky Cakes is a delicious, vegan pancake and waffle mix brand with flavors like original, blueberry, pecan, chocolate chip and gluten free. You can pair Vicky Cakes with her no high-fructose syrups, which come in original and caramel.
Yolélé
Pierre Thiam created Yolélé, a rice and chip company made of fonio, the nutritional grain of West Africa. The five different pilaf rice flavors — Jollof, Yassa, Afro-Funk, Greens and Dakar Curry — can be cooked in just five minutes. The Jollof rice has tomato and bell pepper; Yasso has lime, onion and chili; Afro-Funk consists of dawadawa and herbs; Greens has moringa and spinach; Dakar Curry has currants. The three flavors of chips include Greens, Yassa, and sea salt.
Golde
Golde’s smoothie boosters and latte blends consist of matcha, cacao turmeric, and coconut collagen powder. The pure matcha blend can provide a boost of energy and amino acids with the addition of chlorophyll and antioxidants. The cacao turmeric may help with skin glow, debloating and stress balance. The coconut collagen can strengthen your hair, skin and nail health.
Misha’s Kind Food
Try this new creamy, melt-in-the-mouth cheese! Founders Ian Martin and Aaron Bullock, created an all-vegan cheese company, featuring cheeses made with cashew and almond milk. There are eight different cheese flavors. A few of these flavors are Smoked Cheddar, which consists of smoked paprika and chipotle; Sari, consisting of sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic and cilantro, and Seven Point Five which is made with jalapeño, habanero and strawberries.