Situation: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 laid bare the racial inequities that Black folks continue to face in America in almost every aspect of their lives, not least of which, economically. Many Black owned restaurants especially struggled to access PPP loans, and were on the verge of closing their doors for good as a result.

Brief: As an iconic American food brand it means Heinz is uniquely positioned to stand up for one of the most underrepresented parts of American culinary culture – Black culture.

Objectives: With the goal to inspire and educate American listeners on the impact Black food has on America, Heinz created the Black Kitchen Initiative to celebrate and preserve Black culinary culture today and into the future. The podcast provides a capsule of Black food innovators preserving and revolutionizing how America engages with Black Culinary Culture.

The three major aspects of the Heinz Black Kitchen Initiative. The first is the Black Kitchen Initiative Series, a podcast that, over two seasons, has documented the Black chefs, historians, farmers, artists and more preserving and honoring the continued impact of Black cuisine within the American culinary canon. Season 2 in particular delved into the narratives of 12 trailblazers leading the culinary revolution and tapping into the heritage of Black food to do so. Secondly, our Open Kitchen Series provided emerging Black chefs the chance to showcase their talents by taking over Marcus Samuelsson's renowned Harlem and Atlanta restaurants, offering mentorship and national exposure to a broader audience than they would’ve reached on their own. Lastly, through our dedicated @HeinzBKI social channel, we’ve fostered a nuanced dialogue and thematic focus, identifying and pouring into a vibrant community eager to explore the rich tapestry of Black food culture.

In the summer of 2020, the unbearably evident racial disparities that have existed since this country’s inception erupted to the front of our national consciousness. In the Black culinary community, this was especially evident article after article expounding the difficulties that Black owned restaurants faced securing PPP loans. The restaurant business as a whole already had low profit margins, but suddenly being a Black owned restaurant meant you were closing your doors.

Heinz as an iconic American food brand did something about it, donating $3MM in grants to almost 300 Black owned businesses. However we didn’t stop there. Driven by a mission to celebrate and preserve Black culinary culture, we fought to ensure the conversation didn’t end in 2020. Two award-winning seasons later, the podcast has committed countless Black culinary stories and histories to tape to ensure that Black culinary voices get the respect, credit and opportunities they deserve.

For season 2 of the podcast we released 6 episodes (weekly between late April and end of May) and 5 pieces of bonus content (sprinkled throughout) on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Every week we released a teaser for the episode on Instagram, followed up with a post announcing its release, ending with a collab post with the guests that week, all to drive maximum engagement.

Our Open Kitchen Series sought to create an on the ground opportunity for emerging Black chefs by offering them the opportunity to take over celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson’s famous Harlem and Atlanta restaurants with their own signature menus. Both were one night only, with the Harlem pop up taking place in December and Atlanta in February.

@HeinzBKI has been especially key for the podcast and Open Kitchen, serving as a hub where the impact of each of these time-bound actions can live on in perpetuity.

Since the start of this program, Heinz has donated $3MM, working with our partners to provide grants and businesses sustaining resources to 200+ Black businesses across the country.

As for the podcast, with a 4.9 rating and nearly 5MM minutes listened, the impact on both our audience and our guests has been undeniable. In particular, one of our guests, Rollen Chalmers, said “Since posting the 30-second reel for our episode in May, our Instagram account has reached over 70k accounts, and we have received tons of business both online and in store from that reel.”

Finally, the response to our Open Kitchen program (both on social and IRL) showed just how eager people are to support the next generation of Black restaurateurs. Between our Harlem and Atlanta events, we sold over 400 seats, had over 60 mentions from VIP guests and garnered over 100MM impressions across paid and earned.