CLEVELAND — One element of the recent push for racial equality in Ohio is a push to support Black-owned businesses, and one in downtown Cleveland has been cooking up success.
The shrimp and chicken are part of the serious storm being cooked up at Zanzibar Soul Fusion.
“From those of us that have traveled the country, and experienced some different parts of the market, different styles of soul food cooking, brought a lot of that to our recipe with a twist,” said Johnny Hutton, owner of the restaurant.
Hutton stirs up some grits while talking about his favorite part of the restaurant business.
“Watching the happy faces of our guests, that is what we do this for. It’s a very rewarding experience and also giving the opportunity to a lot of our employees, a lot of our staff, providing good-paying jobs for a lot of them to take care of their families,” Hutton said.
This year, there have been some unique challenges.
“This last year has been — I guess I would call it adaptive. OK, so we’ve had to really make some moves on the fly, kind of adjusting to the protocols that came out from the state, adjusting to the behavior of the guests and kind of reacting to their tendencies," he said.
Hutton grew up in Cleveland and got his passion for the restaurant industry while bussing tables at a country club. He moved back to town after working around the country with Morton’s and has owned this Zanzibar location for seven years.
On a walk through the Gateway District, Hutton said he would like to see more Black-owned businesses.
“I would love to see more of our brothers and sisters expanding their visions into this area. I think, you know, East Fourth Street, the whole Gateway District, can be very profitable for all of us," Hutton said.
Hutton said his business has been welcomed by the downtown community, but it's not like that everywhere.
“I have heard stories where communities aren’t as friendly to minority businesses coming into the neighborhood, and that’s one of the things I think needs to change. You know, because I think that diversity is what helps the city grow. And we want Cleveland to grow. We want our communities to grow (and) we want our communities to thrive.”
As Zanzibar continues to innovate through the pandemic, Hutton’s using what he’s learned from his success to help other Black entrepreneurs grow.
"We face some other challenges, I guess, from the general market, but I think that having a focus on what’s happened over the last year has definitely brought the diversity of our product to the market, broken some stigmas of how we actually have the ability to do a lot of different things.”