CLEVELAND — At Rocket Mortgage there will be more than two dozen Black owned restaurants for a Taste of Black Cleveland.
The event is put on by Cleveland NAACP, The Real Black Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Aramark and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Participants will make three of their signature dishes for everyone to sample and attendees will vote on their favorite. One of those participants includes the Haunted House Restaurant.
The restaurant in Cleveland Heights started off as an idea and turned into their customer's "worst nightmare."
“When they come in, it's more like paying homage back to the 1998 and 90’s scary movies that we all grew up on,” said co-owner of the Haunted House Restaurant Andre Scott.
In the Haunted House you get the experience of just about every classic scary movie there is, even the food carries a movie theme.
That gory goodness will be at the Taste of Black Cleveland this Thursday, where they will highlight businesses like the Haunted House. Though they stay busy, that's not always the case for Black businesses especially during the pandemic.
Nationwide, 53% of Black businesses saw revenue decrease by 50% or more that compared to 37% of white businesses, according to the website Black Enterprise.
Which is also something organizer Larese Purnell sees with local Black businesses in Northeast Ohio.
“When America has a cold the Black community has the flu,” Purnell continued, “a lot of these businesses sometimes don't have access to capital, they don't have access to market and don't have access to other resources.”
For Scott, they're geared up and excited to feed and be a part of a celebration for Black Cleveland.
“Just go out and have fun and give people a taste of Cleveland, Black Cleveland,” said Scott.
The event is Thursday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage.
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