{"id":102416,"date":"2021-07-01T00:52:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T07:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=102416"},"modified":"2021-07-03T15:52:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-03T22:52:56","slug":"the-rise-of-soul-food-in-the-antelope-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2021\/07\/01\/the-rise-of-soul-food-in-the-antelope-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of soul food in the Antelope Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Soul food is making its mark in Antelope Valley \u2014 which shouldn\u2019t be surprising since, demographically speaking, Palmdale and Lancaster are together home to the third largest black community<\/a> in the United States, behind LA and Long Beach. Time 2 Grub and D&B Catering and Events are two black-owned soul food establishments that are filling a niche in the community.<\/a><\/p>\n

Time 2 Grub: serving great soul food<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tanya O\u2019Neal moved from LA to Antelope Valley for the affordable cost of living, safer streets, and community feel. However, she soon noticed a gap in the local market for Southern cuisine. Setting up in 2018, O\u2019Neal first started cooking soul food staples in her home permit-free. Following in the footsteps of major South LA Instagram accounts (the likes of Mr. Fries Man<\/a> and Trap Kitchen), O\u2019Neal advertised her dishes on social media. Word-of-mouth spread fast, and it wasn\u2019t long before she had a steady stream of customers. O\u2019Neal soon secured a space in Sol Plaza Boutique Mall with her menu featuring oxtails, meatloaf, smothered steak, and vegan options.<\/p>\n

D&B BBQ: family-owned business<\/strong><\/h4>\n

D&B BBQ Catering and Events is another black-owned eatery in Sol Plaza Boutique Mall. Husband and wife team Bella and David Blackmon first started out selling their unique Southside Chicago barbeque fare at Lancaster farmers market. They also provide catering for large-scale events, including events for the chamber of commerce. Their cafe took a lot of work to get off the ground, but now has numerous repeat customers. \u201cOur biggest thing is word of mouth,\u201d says Bella. \u201cYou can flyer and all that, but word of mouth brings business. We take pride in what we do, and we love to see our repeat customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The value of online marketing<\/strong><\/h4>\n

All Antelope Valley restaurants should also consider the value of online marketing to boost their customer base. 97% of customers rely on search engines<\/a> to find local restaurants, so having an online business presence is critical. For example, making your website mobile-friendly allows mobile users to easily view your website \u2014 considering there\u2019s currently 3.6 billion mobile users worldwide<\/a>, this is an important step. Mobile ordering and payments are also useful mobile-orientated features that encourage sales.<\/p>\n

Time 2 Grub and D&B have attracted a strong local fan base, thanks to both social media and Postmates orders. Now, however, O\u2019Neal has also managed to purchase a food truck, which she hopes will help her expand her reach and serve even more of the local community.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soul food is making its mark in Antelope Valley \u2014 which shouldn\u2019t be surprising since, demographically speaking, Palmdale and Lancaster are together home to the third largest black community in the United States, behind LA and Long Beach. Time 2 Grub and D&B Catering and Events are two black-owned soul food establishments that are filling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":102418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}