Black-Owned Vegan Bakery Sees a 100% Increase in Sales

Southern Roots Vegan Bakery 

Black-owned bakery Southern Roots has seen a 100 percent spike in its sales over the past couple of months. The San Antonio based vegan bakery saw tremendous growth in its sales after much attention had been given to Black businesses as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In recent months, the bakery has received a massive inflow of orders that kept the two-person team working around the clock to meet up with orders. Southern Roots was also included on the Black-owned businesses list published by media platforms to support the Black Lives Matter movement and Black businesses.

Southern Roots was founded by husband and wife, Marcus and Cara Pitts in 2018. The couple are also master bakers and offer customers a variety of products such as cinnamon rolls, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, red velvet donuts, and Mary Lee’s lemon bundt cake which was named after Cara’s grandmother.

Marcus Pitts described the current situation of supporting Black businesses under the Black Lives Matter movement as a “blessing in disguise.” Many people also saw it as a one-day thing that probably wouldn’t last for a long time. Whether or not the recent development of spikes in sales of Black-owned businesses last or not, it still remains an undeniable fact that many Black businesses are befitting from it.

“We were denied benefits as a small business so all of the recent attention has been a blessing in disguise,” Marcus said. “As a black-owned business, our focus is on perseverance and consistency. We have to keep going no matter what because life comes at you fast.”

The bakery which was run by just the couple-team has had to hire more people to meet the overwhelming orders.

In recent weeks, millions of Americans have taken to the streets to outrightly protest systemic racism, police brutality, and the killings of unarmed Blacks, with emphasis on George Floyd. Due to the awareness created, many Blacks have received great attention on social media in the form of likes and shares. However, for many Black business owners, the likes and shares have been translated into a significant increase in sales.

“We’re seeing that people aren’t just sharing and sending it on, but we have people that are actually making sales, actually sending emails, ‘yeah, I saw this on social media and I want to do my part in order to support what you guys are doing and to support Black business,” owner of Eyeseeme African American Children’s Bookstore Jeffery Blair said. “I’ve never seen that before, to that degree. It’s been a substantial increase in online sales.”

Before now, it has been always difficult for Black business owners or people looking to start a Black-owned business to start or grow a business in the United States. It had always been harder to get investors and to access lines of credit.