Hi. Hello. Saludos. Bonjou (yes Bonjou and not Bonjour.)

You’ve seen us. We shop in your stores, celebrate in your restaurants, pop open your bottles at home, and even gift said bottles to our friends. Yet you think we don’t exist. When you do notice us, you serve up the same tired suggestions no matter what we actually tell you we want.

We shop in your stores alone without so much as a smile, a greeting, or a “how can I help?” We get seated in your restaurants and ignored while other patrons are treated like family.  Those bottles we pop? We conduct an exhaustive web search to make sure we can pronounce the name correctly before we leave the house because we aren’t certain we will be able to track down the one person in the shop who will actually engage us in conversation.

We are 1.2 Trillion dollars worth of buying power and you have no idea how much we want to spend it on wine and spirits. Here’s a hint: SO MUCH. We are here to tell you what WE DESERVE. Simply put, we deserve the best! Before your visions lead you to a slick, high-end, dripping in designer, gold plated shimmering shopping spree where the drink of choice is something backed by a celebrity we want you to picture something different (don’t worry, we’ll get back to what we mean by the best.) 

Picture instead, a single mother who has had a long day at work and wants to enjoy a glass of wine as she reads over notes for a presentation. Picture a young professional looking to celebrate their first job out of college with something special but doesn’t see a single person who looks familiar to them in the store. Picture newlyweds embarking on a road trip seeking out a special bottle for a romantic getaway. Now stop and ask yourself if any of the people you pictured were not white. 

They all deserve the best for them. The best means so many things - it’s just a matter of engaging them as individuals.  Give them the best option for who they are instead of lumping them into a preconceived notion of who you think they are. 

Our challenge to the wine and spirits industry is to expand their concept of who the Black consumer is and expand the conversation to a group of people who are hungry (and thirsty) for more than what’s been served for a long time. 

This open letter serves as that call to the industry to show us their best, because WE DESERVE it and here’s how we want to see that happen:

• Increase the visibility of producers of color on retail shelves and on menus. This means your staff should be able to speak to the story beyond just saying “Oooh here’s a producer/brewer/distiller of color!”
• Commit to showcasing one new producer of color per month for the next 12 months. The good people at Wine Enthusiast did the work of listing them, now get them on your shelves.
• Expand your consumer marketing so that your images and campaigns are culturally relevant to a more expansive market that includes people of color.

We know that this is not going to happen overnight. We also know that what we are seeking out is simple because it’s being done. Now we are challenging the industry to do it at scale and we want to start small with you.  Talk to us when we walk in the door. See us when we are asking questions. If you get stuck, send a message to tfluxeboston@gmail.com and we’ll be ready to get this conversation rolling.