Philadelphia based food delivery service, Black and Mobile, is expanding its operation to Baltimore. By doing so, the app will 40 drivers and 20 Black-owned restaurants to their network.
Black and Mobile CEO David Cabello began building his business while working for food delivery services such as Postmates and Caviar. Through his work, he began to formulate a plan to branch off and create an app that would help support himself and Black communities across the country.
“If I can do this on a regular bicycle, how much could I make if I owned the company?” he asked.
Cabello's business separates itself from the likes of other food delivery services by targeting Black-owned businesses in predominately Black cities. As a result, he has been able to section off his own customer base.
“Not seeing as many Black-owned restaurants on [other food delivery apps] also motivated me to say, we need to be able to find more Black-owned restaurants,” he said.
“Most people can not name over 20 Black-owned restaurants, but I guarantee they can name that many white restaurants. We know where to go to find everyone else’s businesses but ours.”
Baltimore is just the latest city to welcome in Black and Mobile. As the need for food delivery services skyrocketed during the pandemic, Black and Mobile evolved from being a $25,00 business to a $500,000 business. Cabello has also brought his business to cities like Atlanta and Detroit. Moving forward, they are refining their app with Black-owned software company, Jet Button Studio.
“Unfortunately, we got more support after a Black man dying than we did all year,” he said referring to the unjustly killing of George Floyd.
“We sold three times the amount of food in April than we did the entire 2019."
Ultimately, Cabello hopes that his business will not only support himself, but his community and Black-owned restaurants across the map.
“It’s not just my business you’re supporting,” Cabello said.
“You’re supporting the restaurant, you’re supporting the Black tech company that developed [the app], the driver if they’re Black, we hire everyone, that’s an independent contractor. That’s four Black-owned businesses that you can support, and you can get good food. It’s all about supporting small local businesses.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images