The United States has more Black-owned businesses than at any point in history, but the numbers still lag behind the overall population.
Between 2017 and 2023, the number of Black-owned employer businesses grew by 62%, or nearly 77,000 firms. This growth was larger than U.S. employer businesses overall, which increased by 3.3% over the same period, according to the Brookings Institute.
“Even so, the overall share of Black-owned employer businesses remained disproportionately low relative to Black people’s share of the U.S. population. In 2023, Black Americans represented 3.4% of employer business owners, yet made up 14.4% of the population,” the data showed.
The growth of Black-owned businesses benefits the community in ways that may not appear obvious.
“These businesses not only build wealth for Black families, but are also community anchors and service providers that invest in the people and places around them. In fact, higher rates of Black business ownership in a metro area or county correlate with longer life expectancies for Black residents overall, and metro areas with more equitable representation of Black-owned employer businesses show higher rates of Black well-being,” Brookings reported.
That makes the loss of Flavor Hills particularly significant to the communities it served.
Flavor Hills closes its remaining locations
Flavor Hills owner Morgan Tieanne, who started as executive chef for the chain, oversaw its growth from its original Jacksonville location to Raleigh, North Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and ultimately Durham, North Carolina.
Now, all of those locations have closed, although the company will remain open, providing private catering.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the official closure of all Flavor Hills operations,” the company shared on its Facebook page.
ABC 11 confirmed the closures on its website.
Flavor Hills’ post showed that the company saw itself as more than a restaurant.
“Flavor Hills was a space to showcase Black excellence,” it shared. “…We mentored, built people up when they had given up on themselves.”
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Hundreds of Flavor Hills customers posted in response to the news of the shutdown.
“Thank you for taking a chance and opening a Black-owned business in an area that had been sorely lacking, especially in a location that has been a rotating restaurant door for years now. Thank you for the great food, the mimosa concept, the artwork, and the kind staff. Best of luck in future endeavors,” wrote Jeremy Reiter.
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Flavor Hills isn’t alone in closing
While Flavor Hills did not share the reason for its abrupt closure as a restaurant chain, the shutdown is part of a broader trend.
“Black Box Intelligence data revealed that 9% of full-service restaurants are at risk for closure this year, with the shuttering of casual dining chains continuing to outpace openings, the company said in a recent report. The segment has seen more than a 3% drop in net unit growth since 2022,” Restaurant Dive.
Victor Fernandez, Black Box Intelligence vice president of insights and knowledge, sees some positives in larger chains closing down struggling locations.
“When a brand stops subsidizing its bottom 10% of units, it can reallocate capital, management attention, and marketing spend to the units with the highest growth potential. This ‘traffic transfer’ effect is a powerful tool for survival in 2026,” he told Restaurant Dive.
Restaurants have struggled in part because of fewer customers eating out.
“Thirty-five percent of operators said their customer traffic rose between June 2025 and June 2026, up from 29% in May. Forty-three percent of operators reported lower traffic in June, down from 45% in May. Despite the improvement, June represented the 16th time in the last 17 months that operators reported a net decline in customer traffic,” according to the National Restaurant Association.
Flavor Hills also sat in a restaurant space that has been hit hard by consumers pulling back spending.
“We are seeing a massive correction where the middle-tier brands like Five Guys that sit between fast food and sit-down dining are getting squeezed by a consumer who is watching their wallet,” RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino told TheStreet.
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