African Restaurant Week
African Restaurant Week is a mission-driven cultural platform that organizes annual multi-city celebrations of African and Caribbean cuisine through reduced-price restaurant menus, food festivals, and community events, serving small independent restaurants and diners across 20+ cities worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersWashington DC, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What African Restaurant Week does
African Restaurant Week (ARW) is a mission-driven cultural and culinary platform founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York City that organizes annual week-long celebrations of African, African-American, and Caribbean food and culture across 20+ cities in the United States, Europe, and Africa. The organization connects diners with participating restaurants through reduced-price menus (starting at $10), food and music festivals, cooking classes, and chef-hosted events, and supports small businesses including restaurants, cafes, bars, caterers, and bakeries by providing promotional visibility, festival vendor opportunities, and a curated restaurant directory. Operations are run by a lean team of approximately 10 employees supported by decentralized city coordinators, with the main organizational hub located in Washington, DC under Founder & CEO Akin Akinsanya.
The core product is a content-managed website that serves as a searchable restaurant directory filterable by city, cuisine type, neighborhood, and price range, paired with city-specific landing pages for each active market. The platform is built on standard web infrastructure rather than proprietary technology; event ticketing is outsourced to Eventbrite, and restaurant/vendor registration is handled through Google Forms. There is no public API, mobile application, or proprietary technology platform underlying the offering, and no AI or machine learning capabilities are disclosed. City editions operate as recurring annual events with associated festivals that combine food, music, and small-business vendor booths.
ARW generates revenue across five streams: restaurant registration fees for promotional participation, Eventbrite-mediated festival ticket sales, customizable sponsorship packages (Title Sponsor-Presenting Partner, Event Sponsor, and Community Partner tiers), festival vendor booth fees, and voluntary donations supporting the organization's community mission. Restaurant partners pay small unit-based fees while sponsorship is structured as multi-year contracts targeting enterprise and brand budgets. No financial figures are publicly disclosed, and the organization operates as a privately held, founder-led entity without external institutional investment identified in the source material.
African Restaurant Week firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- African Restaurant Week
- Legal name
- African Restaurant Week
- Website
- https://africanrestaurantweek.com
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- African Restaurant Week is a mission-driven cultural platform that organizes annual multi-city celebrations of African and Caribbean cuisine through reduced-price restaurant menus, food festivals, and community events, serving small independent restaurants and diners across 20+ cities worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
African Restaurant Week industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cultural Event Management and Restaurant Promotion
- NAICS
- Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Food, Wine & Beverage Festivals/Expos (MPAGAFAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Food, Drink & Culinary Community Festivals (Community-Led) (MPAGAEAF), Food Festivals & Culinary Events (Ticketed Tastings, Pop-ups) (THAJAGAL)
Keywords
Where African Restaurant Week is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington DC
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
African Restaurant Week business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Restaurant Registration Fees: Restaurants pay to participate in African Restaurant Week events and receive promotional visibility and discounted menu opportunity
- Festival Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from food and music festival admissions sold through Eventbrite platform
- Sponsorship Packages: Customizable sponsorship packages including Title Sponsor-Presenting Partner, Event Sponsor, and Community Partner tiers
- Festival Vendor Fees: Vendor booth fees for food and music festival participation
- Donations: Voluntary donations from supporters to support the organization's mission of community development
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Restaurant participation pricing |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Festival tickets |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Sponsorship packages |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
African Restaurant Week product offering
Product offeringCore offering
African Restaurant Week (ARW) organizes annual, week-long celebrations across 20+ cities featuring reduced-price menus ($10 and up) at participating African, African-American, and Caribbean restaurants, supplemented by food and music festivals, cooking classes, and chef-hosted events. It provides a discovery directory, restaurant and vendor registration, festival ticketing via Eventbrite, and tiered sponsorship/partnership packages that together promote small businesses and the African/Black Diaspora culinary ecosystem.
Product overview
African Restaurant Week (ARW) is a celebration platform for food and culture from the African/Black Diaspora, supporting small businesses including restaurants, cafes, bars, and caterers. The core product is the ARW Platform which provides a searchable restaurant directory, city-specific event pages, and festival ticketing. The platform operates through Eventbrite for event tickets and Google Forms for restaurant/vendor registration. ARW connects diners with discounted meals at participating restaurants during themed weeks, supplemented by food and music festivals. The platform spans multiple cities including New York City, New Jersey, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Maryland, Bay Area, Boston, and international locations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- African Restaurant Week (ARW) Annual Celebration Platform
- Restaurant Directory
- City-Specific ARW Event Editions
- African Restaurant Week Festival (Food & Music Festival)
- Restaurant and Vendor Registration Service
- Sponsorship and Partnership Packages
Quantifiable outcome
- Restaurant foot traffic increase through reduced-price menu promotions
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use African Restaurant Week
Customer profileNamed customers18 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
African Restaurant Week technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
African Restaurant Week partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Office of Immigrant Affairs - PhiladelphiacorePhiladelphia African Restaurant Week is a featured program of Immigrant Heritage Month, led by the Office of Immigrant Affairs. This official recognition provides institutional credibility and cross-promotional opportunities with city government initiatives.
- Office on African Affairs - DCcoreDirector Aly Kaba serves in the Mayor's Office on African Affairs (MOAA) with ten years of experience managing operational and strategic development. The office collaborates on DC African Restaurant Week programming.
- EventbritecoreEventbrite is the primary ticketing platform for African Restaurant Week festivals and events across all cities, enabling online ticket sales, vendor registration, and event promotion.
- Media PartnersminorVarious media partners collaborate with African Restaurant Week to amplify event visibility and reach broader audiences.
- Community Leaders and TastemakersminorNetwork of community influencers and culinary tastemakers help promote African Restaurant Week events and support local restaurant visibility.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
African Restaurant Week competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Eater: Leading food media outlet covering restaurant discovery, events, and dining culture. Comparable as a content-and-discovery layer for diners, and a potential threat if it launched branded diaspora restaurant weeks.
- James Beard Foundation: Established food and beverage nonprofit that runs culinary events, chef programming, and dining experiences. Comparable as an event-driven cultural food organization, but operates at higher budget and broader scope than ARW.
- NYC Restaurant Week: The original restaurant week format ARW is modeled on, operated at scale in New York City. Highly comparable GTM (prix-fixe menus, multi-day events, ticketed festivals) but covers all cuisines rather than specializing in African/Black Diaspora.
Direct peers
- Black Restaurant Week: Direct peer running multi-city restaurant week events celebrating Black-owned restaurants across the US. Closest comparable concept to ARW, differing primarily in scope (broader Black diaspora vs. African/Black Diaspora focus) and event structure.
- Restaurant Weeks America: Aggregator and operator that promotes restaurant week events across US cities. Competes with ARW for the same restaurant partner mindshare and diner attention during city-specific promotional windows.
Emerging players
- Feast Bravada / Africa in America: Niche African diaspora food festival and culinary programming. Comparable to ARW in its African cuisine focus and festival ticketing model, but smaller in scale and city coverage.
- Taste of Soul Family Festival: Annual cultural food and music festival in Los Angeles celebrating Black culture and cuisine. Comparable as a community-led culinary event with vendor booths and ticketed entry, though it is a single-city event rather than a multi-city platform.
Others
- Eventbrite: Ticketing platform that powers ARW's festival sales. Adjacent as an infrastructure partner and ecosystem enabler, but not a direct competitor; represents a dependency rather than a peer.
- Resy: Restaurant reservation and discovery platform. Comparable as restaurant-discovery infrastructure for diners, though ARW competes more for event-driven attention than for booking transactions.
Regional players
- Taste of the Caribbean Festival: Caribbean cuisine-focused food and music festival. Comparable in cultural-celebration positioning and ticketed festival format to ARW, but focused on a different diaspora cuisine and concentrated in fewer cities.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
African Restaurant Week social profiles
Digital presenceAfrican Restaurant Week financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
African Restaurant Week leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
African Restaurant Week funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
African Restaurant Week M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about African Restaurant Week
What does African Restaurant Week do?
African Restaurant Week (ARW) organizes annual, week-long celebrations across 20+ cities featuring reduced-price menus ($10 and up) at participating African, African-American, and Caribbean restaurants, supplemented by food and music festivals, cooking classes, and chef-hosted events. It provides a discovery directory, restaurant and vendor registration, festival ticketing via Eventbrite, and tiered sponsorship/partnership packages that together promote small businesses and the African/Black Diaspora culinary ecosystem.
Is African Restaurant Week a public or private company?
African Restaurant Week is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was African Restaurant Week founded?
African Restaurant Week was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is African Restaurant Week based?
African Restaurant Week is headquartered in Washington DC, United States, in the North America region.
How does African Restaurant Week make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Restaurant Registration Fees are the primary driver. The others are festival Ticket Sales, sponsorship Packages, festival Vendor Fees and donations.
Who are African Restaurant Week's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Eater, James Beard Foundation and NYC Restaurant Week. Direct peers are Black Restaurant Week and Restaurant Weeks America. Emerging players are Feast Bravada / Africa in America and Taste of Soul Family Festival. Others are Eventbrite and Resy. Taste of the Caribbean Festival is listed as a regional player.
Does African Restaurant Week have an API?
No public API is recorded for African Restaurant Week.
What industry is African Restaurant Week in?
African Restaurant Week's product category is Cultural Event Management and Restaurant Promotion. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAGAFAE, Food, Wine & Beverage Festivals/Expos, with a secondary code of MPAGAEAF, Food, Drink & Culinary Community Festivals (Community-Led). Its NAICS code is 56192 and its SIC code is 7900.