Self-taught pastry chef Cheryl Day first rose to prominence when she and her husband Griffith launched the Back in the Day Bakery in 2002 in Savannah’s historically Black Victorian District. Fostering community was as much a priority as the confections, which she gifted to fellow businesses to show solidarity. “We wanted to build a place of pride and help this neighborhood continue to thrive,” she says. Several cookbooks and a James Beard nomination later, Day found herself again in solidarity with her community as COVID-19 upheaved what they had built. “There was a lot of fear,” she recalls. “I had to let go of my staff and start over.”
Following the murder of George Floyd that summer of 2020, Day talked with Sarah O’Brien of the Little Tart Bakeshop in Atlanta about how to respond both to the demand for racial justice and for assistance in the F&B industry. Pastry chef Lisa Donovan and James Beard Award winner Anne Quatrano soon entered the conversation. “[Quatrano] jumped on board and started making phone calls and sending emails,” Day says. “Next thing we knew, we had all these chefs who wanted to help us do a fundraiser.” The culinary icons dubbed themselves Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice (SRRJ) as they held a collective bake sale on Father’s Day weekend 2020 that raised $100,000 for racial justice advocacy group Color of Change.
The Lee Initiative, a nonprofit working to expand diversity and equity in the restaurant industry, became SRRJ’s fiscal partner to create grants and give money directly to Black-owned restaurants. The partnership enabled SRRJ to provide emergency funds to America’s oldest Black-owned restaurant—Jones’ Bar-B-Q in Marianna, Arkansas—following a fire last year. A multimillion-dollar endowment from Heinz Kraft followed, along with collaborations from King Arthur Flour and Spanx. SRRJ is also growing its scope to reach emerging or struggling Black-owned businesses through mentorship programs. “It’s going to be a big piece to making sure these restaurants are sustainable,” Day says.
A community builder at her core, Day continues to see the platform as an opportunity to educate on racial justice, Black-owned restaurants, and to “let people know how important it is to build awareness around this culture that’s just as much American culture as anything else,” she says. “I want to level the playing field.”
This is part of an ongoing interview series curated by the Hospitality Diversity Action Council (HDAC).
