Three weeks into The Seattle Medium’s Pack the House campaign, the community is showing what can happen when people make an intentional decision to support local Black-owned restaurants.
Island Soul, Emma’s BBQ and Black & Tan Hall, the first three restaurants featured in the 10-week campaign, have reported increased customer traffic, sales and visibility as people have responded by dining in, ordering food and discovering businesses they may not have visited before.
Now, that momentum is bringing another community organization into the effort.
The Central Area Collaborative (CAC), an organization focused on supporting small businesses and equitable economic development in Seattle’s Central District, has joined The Seattle Medium, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and Byrd Barr Place in supporting Pack the House.
For Steve Banks, executive director of the Central Area Collaborative, the campaign aligns with the organization’s work to strengthen the small businesses that remain an important part of the Central District’s economic and cultural identity.
“At the Central Area Collaborative, our mission is rooted in building an equitable economic ecosystem for the small businesses that give the Central District its character, its history, and its heartbeat,” said Banks. “That’s why we are proud to stand behind The Seattle Medium’s Pack The House campaign.”
The campaign was created around a simple idea: rather than merely encouraging people to support Black-owned businesses in general, Pack the House asks the community to concentrate its support around featured restaurants each week by showing up, spending money and, most importantly, coming back.
Early feedback from the participating restaurants indicates that people are responding.
Island Soul, the first restaurant featured in the campaign, saw an increase in customers during its spotlight week, but the impact did not end when the campaign moved on to the next restaurant. Owner Theo Martin said customers continue to come into the Columbia City restaurant weeks later and tell him they are there because of Pack the House.
“The customers have been great,” said Martin. “I hope people keep coming back.”
For organizers, that continued support is particularly encouraging because Pack the House was never intended to generate business for restaurants during a single week and then move on. The goal is to introduce people to businesses, give them a reason to walk through the doors and, ideally, turn some of those first-time or occasional visitors into regular customers.
The following week, the campaign moved to Emma’s BBQ, where General Manager Miceala Thomas said the restaurant experienced a significant increase in business compared with the previous week while welcoming both familiar faces and new customers.
“Not only did we have the pleasure of connecting with familiar faces, but we saw a lot of new ones as well,” said Thomas.
Among those new customers was a woman visiting from Arkansas who finished her meal, left the restaurant and then returned to purchase Emma’s barbecue sauce to take home with her.
“Overall, Pack the House was a wonderful promotion for us,” said Thomas. “Thank you for your support and dedication to uplifting Black business. We are beyond proud to have been tapped in for the opportunity to participate and tell our story.”
The additional exposure also produced an unexpected opportunity. After Emma’s appeared on the front page of The Seattle Medium during its spotlight week, Thomas said the restaurant received a call from a casting director looking for Black women to participate in casting for an upcoming Tyler Perry film.
“We were all very humbled and thankful for the opportunity,” said Thomas.
Last week, the campaign moved to Black & Tan Hall in Hillman City, where the restaurant, music venue and community gathering space became the third business featured in the campaign. Like the restaurants before it, Black & Tan Hall reported increased customer activity and visibility during its spotlight week.
The response from the first three restaurants, including the continued support Island Soul is experiencing weeks after its spotlight, is helping demonstrate the potential of concentrated community support. It also underscores the significance of the Central Area Collaborative joining the campaign as another organization committed to supporting local Black-owned businesses.
“Black-owned restaurants in our community are so much more than businesses,” said Banks. “They are gathering places, keepers of culture, and anchors of neighborhood identity. When a restaurant that has served our community for years or decades faces the threat of closing, we don’t just lose a place to eat, we lose a piece of who we are.”
Banks said CAC was also drawn to the campaign’s combination of storytelling, increased visibility and concentrated community support for participating restaurants.
“This is why CAC exists, to ensure our small businesses don’t just survive, but thrive,” said Banks. “Campaigns like Pack The House remind us of a truth we hold close: our community shows up for its own.”
The stories behind the first three featured restaurants have demonstrated some of what Banks is talking about.
At Island Soul, Martin’s journey took him from a corporate career at Nordstrom back to his family’s restaurant business, eventually leading to the creation of the Columbia City restaurant he operates today. Emma’s BBQ is working to sustain generations of family recipes while recovering from the loss of a major concession opportunity at Lumen Field. Black & Tan Hall has combined food, live music, art and community programming in a space rooted in culture and connection.
With three spotlight weeks now complete, Pack the House moves this week to Simply Soulful at 23rd Avenue and South Jackson Street in Seattle’s Central District, where owner Lillian Rambus has spent more than a decade building a restaurant around family recipes, soul food and a sense of home.
The campaign is asking the community to once again turn its support into action.
Show up. Spend money. Come back.
Banks said that type of intentional support reflects the role the community can play in sustaining the small businesses that contribute to the culture and identity of their neighborhoods.
“We are honored to be part of that effort, and we encourage everyone, neighbors, partners, and friends of the Central District, to dine in, order out, and show up for these incredible businesses during their spotlight weeks,” said Banks.
The Pack the House campaign is a 10-week community initiative presented by The Seattle Medium, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Byrd Barr Place and the Central Area Collaborative to encourage the community to intentionally support local Black-owned restaurants. For more information about the campaign, participating restaurants and weekly schedule, visit PackTheHouseSeattle.com.
