Why do brands go silent when asked to support a Black owned business?

Huge shout out to for the ?? Nix & Kix Ltd | B Corp? Rahi Daneshmand virtue drinks Jamie McCloskey LittlePod Andrew Sherick Paul Rostand JimJams Healthier Spreads and Snacks

NO THANKS! was the abrupt response I received from a “well known” independent wine brand in my search for a brand sponsor for our event Spill the Beans a business networking event for Black/ethnic minority entrepreneurs.

It’s odd because the owner of this particular brand had supported us in the past at our blogging events back in the day, I wonder what warranted a response of such nature.

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Obviously, I understand that due to circumstances beyond their control companies are experiencing some hard times so it would be very foolish of me to think that brands would just blindly throw their livestock in our direction.

But it did get me thinking into why brands suddenly go silent when you reach out to them for support especially when you mention it’s for a black owned event?

It’s like the word “black” is a swear word in the eyes of foodie companies & entrepreneurs respectively.

Obviously, there are not all bad unsupportive peeps out there, there are people like (in no particular order) who are great and I would support to the death such as Nix & Kix, the Artful Baker, Alf Turner, JimJams, Virtue, LittlePod, Love Corn, Shh Luxury Shakes, Superfoodio etc. because these guys have shown me nothing but LOVE throughout my journey.

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The mad thing is that being a black owned business is hard, but enjoyable at the same time.

There are people that really want to support you and there are people that deep down they do not, even though you have a track record to back up your successes.

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I mean check this out, one South London Beer brand refused to sponsor because they said that they will be sending out “the wrong message” if they supported as they are not a black owned company even though the population of where they are based make up 50% of the black community.

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I mean what? Can you believe it? They completely missed the point of sponsoring and supporting a black owned business.

Can they not see that they are in fact being an ally by supporting the cause?

Before I get ambushed with the “you’re just playing the race card” or you have a “chip on your shoulder”

Let’s look at the facts, shall we? according to the Black pound report 2022, BAME business owners make up 7.1% of food & drink business owners in the UK despite ethnic minority entrepreneurs contributing at least ￡74 billion a year to the UK.

Please make that make sense!

Hence why Spill the Beans was born an entrepreneurial, inspirational and motivational networking event aimed at foodie start-ups and entrepreneurs from ethnic minority communities.

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??Grab your early bird tickets to Spill the Beans NOW

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