For Black entrepreneurs in Washington, D.C., opening a restaurant can be an opportunity to build wealth, create jobs and put a cultural stamp on the city, but keeping the doors open requires more than a good recipe.
Rising labor and food costs, limited access to capital and the challenge of making sound financial decisions can make sustainability one of the biggest hurdles for small business owners.
For Aqil Baker and Kwabena Shahir Nkrumah, co-owners of Today’s Pizza located at 3928 12th St NE, financial sustainability means constantly evaluating what the business can afford while finding ways to keep customers coming back.
The owners have had to navigate rising ingredient and labor costs, find new revenue opportunities and determine how to finance growth while adhering to their Islamic faith.
“With the food cost and the labor as high as it is, it’s really hard to be profitable in a climate like this,” Baker told The Informer. “But you’ve got to find ways to be creative and use some ingenuity to actually make it work.”
From Opportunity to Ownership
Baker did not enter the restaurant industry through a traditional path.
His wife, a real estate broker, had an office next door to the existing Today’s Pizza and told him the business was for sale. Baker had never worked in food service.
After researching the industry and seeing a $40 billion market size, Baker saw an opportunity.
“We initially got into the business because it was for sale,” Baker said. “I had never had any food experience before in my life, so I consulted with my family. We used to run a family food business on 7th Street NW.”
The owners eventually developed Today’s Pizza around foods that reflect Black and D.C. culture. Its menu includes oxtail, jerk chicken, salmon and shrimp pizzas, as well as a D.C. carryout-inspired pizza featuring French fries, fried chicken and mambo sauce.
Baker said operating independently gives the restaurant flexibility that larger chains do not have.
“The ability to be creative and carve your own niche within an industry where a lot of things are already set in stone is what sets us apart from most of the pizza shops in D.C.,” he told The Informer.
“We’re trying to do pizza from the Black experience, doing the cultural things that our people like.”
The business also fills a niche as a halal restaurant, offering non-pork versions of popular pizza toppings, allowing customers with religious or dietary restrictions to order foods they might otherwise avoid.
“We offer alternatives to the big chains where they sell all pork products,” Nkrumah said. “We have pepperoni, ham and sausage, but it’s not pork-based.
Knowing the Numbers Behind the Pizza
For the owners, financial literacy is not simply knowing how much a pizza costs. It means understanding how payroll, ingredients, pricing and portions affect whether the business ultimately makes money.
Labor is one of the restaurant’s largest expenses.
“My payroll is pretty high because what we offer for pizza causes a lot of labor-intensive work,” Nkrumah told The Informer.
D.C. recently raised its minimum wage from $17.95 an hour to $18.40, which began on July 1.
“We have to use a bigger staff to get out the things that we need to get out in a timely fashion because of the way we do things,” Nkrumah continued. “It’s not just your average pizza.”
Food costs present another challenge. Today’s Pizza uses ingredients such as salmon, shrimp and oxtail, which can cost significantly more than traditional pizza toppings.
“Oxtail has been as high as $9 a pound,” Baker said.
Those costs have forced the owners to pay close attention to portion sizes and the types of products they sell.
“You’ve got to find ways to be creative with what you serve and the portion control,” Baker said. “It’s a tough balance right now to actually be in the black on your books because the food cost is really high.”
The owners are also looking for opportunities to work with public schools, Catholic schools and the city, which could provide larger and more consistent orders.
For Nkrumah, understanding those financial realities should begin before an entrepreneur ever opens their doors.
“A lot of people should do their homework on everything, startup costs, projections, and location,” Nkrumah said. “Just take a look at everything that can either make or break your business.”
Finding Capital Without Compromising Their Beliefs
Access to capital has presented another challenge for Today’s Pizza.
Baker spoke about the owners’ Islamic faith and how it prevents them from using conventional interest-based loans.
In Islamic finance, riba, commonly translated as usury or interest, is prohibited.
“For me, the biggest business challenge that we have as Muslims is that we don’t accept interest rate-based loans,” Baker told The Informer. “On-hand capital is always a problem.”
That limitation can make it more difficult for the business to access money when it needs to purchase equipment, expand operations or simply weather a difficult period.
“We have to rely on grants and money that can be given to us without interest rates tied to it to actually grow the business,” Baker said. “It’s been a struggle so far.”
Baker said the reasoning behind their position is rooted in the financial burden that interest can place on borrowers.
“It’s oppressive to the person when they borrow $1,000, but they have to pay back $2,000,” he said. “Then if they miss a payment and it balloons, it can end up being $3,000 or $4,000, so as Muslims, we don’t partake in that system.”
Marketing has helped them stretch those dollars. Rather than spending heavily on traditional advertising, Today’s Pizza has relied largely on social media.
Baker said customers frequently post videos of the restaurant, tag the business and introduce it to new audiences. During a recent Washington Commanders game, Seattle Seahawks fans visited the restaurant after seeing it on TikTok.
“We’ve had such a grassroots following from all over the world,” Baker said. “We get a lot of viral videos or viral moments that take off and reach so many people. It drives our business at this point.”
‘This is Not for the Faint of Heart‘
For potential entrepreneurs, Nkrumah has advice on what to expect once you commit to the investment.
“This is not for the faint of heart,” he said. “It’s for people who are self-starters and self-motivators who are ready to stay the course, because it’s not easy and it’s not glamorous. It’s very hard work.”
He emphasized the importance of owners being heavily involved during the early stages of the business.
“Being an owner, sometimes you’re going to have to do more work than the people that work in the store,” Nkrumah told The Informer. “In the beginning, be ready to get your hands dirty, move your business forward, and go from there.”
