Black-Owned Restaurants and Businesses in Asheville

Tiger Bay Cafe is a Black, woman-owned and family-run cafe that's back in business at 195 Hilliard Avenue, inside Ben's Tune Up on the South Slope. It closed its West Asheville counter inside BattleCat Coffee in late 2024, and now serves what it calls global street food. The menu runs from bagels, breakfast burritos and waffles to paninis and salads with Southern, East Indian and Latin twists. The breakfast panini stacks scrambled egg, bacon, cheddar and Swiss with herb mayo, and the BCT panini pairs bacon, tomato and avocado.

Della Terra Beauty Co. is a wedding hair and makeup company on Wall Street in downtown Asheville, at 34 Wall Street. Its stylists do bridal hair, bridal makeup, bridesmaid and wedding party styling, plus hair and makeup for lifestyle and editorial photo shoots. Reach the team by email to check your wedding date.

AVL Cake Lady is a Black woman-owned custom cake shop at 34 New Leicester Highway, Suite C, in West Asheville. Founder Shana McDowell, an Asheville native, turned a local baking class into a career and opened the shop in 2019. She bakes custom cakes for weddings, birthdays and other events, along with Southern desserts like carrot cake, pies and her shortbread. Every order is made to order for pickup or delivery, and many items can ship frozen by USPS Priority Mail across the country.

Asheville Pro Lash and Salon is a Black-owned lash, makeup and beauty studio inside Asheville Mall at 3 South Tunnel Road in East Asheville. Mother and daughter Trina Gragg-Jackson and Kahlani C. Jackson opened it in 2016, the same year Kahlani became the first African American Miss Asheville. The specialty is eyelash extensions, from natural individual lashes to mink and volume sets, along with makeup artistry for brides, photo shoots and special events. The salon side offers manicures, pedicures, facials and waxing. It's open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 AM to 7 PM, and appointments can be booked online.

Wynn's Luxe Lounge is a Black-owned barbershop at 100 District Drive, Unit 008, in South Asheville. Its barbers do haircuts, fades, waves, line-ups and designs, beard trims, straight razor shaves and head shaves, for men and kids. The shop is clean and modern, with a lounge feel, and runs on appointments. Call (828) 785-1371 or book online to get a chair.

Noir Collective AVL is a Black-owned boutique, art gallery and bookstore at 39 South Market Street, Suite C, inside the YMI Cultural Center on The Block, downtown Asheville's historic Black business district. It sells art, books, clothing and handmade goods from Black artists, designers and craftspeople, most on consignment. The shop hosts First Friday on The Block gatherings, the Black Experience Book Club with Buncombe County Public Library and Open Conversations talks with artists. It's open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 AM to about 6 PM, and Tuesdays by appointment.

Aisha Adams Media is a Mills River media and marketing company founded by Aisha Adams, a local content creator, coach and equity advocate who also founded Equity Over Everything. The company has spent more than 10 years producing content for small businesses and nonprofits across Asheville and Western North Carolina. Services include event planning and on-site coordination, promotional and documentary-style video, podcast and audio production, website design, graphic design and HubSpot CRM setup. Past clients include Blue Ridge Food Ventures, MLK AVL, Thrive AVL and MAHEC, and the company also runs The Asheville View.

Hood Huggers International is a Black-led community organization and tour company in Asheville's historic Burton Street neighborhood in West Asheville, founded by DeWayne Barton in 2015. Its Hood Tours tell the story of African Americans in Asheville, past, present and future. The 90-minute walking tours cover downtown's East End Valley Street, The Block, the YMI Cultural Center and Stephens Lee, or the Burton Street community, its Peace Garden and a community center that was once a segregated elementary school. Driving tours visit Shiloh, Southside, Burton Street and East End. Tours run at 10 AM, 1 PM and 4 PM and are booked online, with private group tours by request. Many of the sculptures in the Peace Gardens & Market, which he and his wife started in 2003, are Barton's work.

Salon Roche is a multicultural hair salon on Hendersonville Road in South Asheville, run by stylist Danielle Roche. The salon specializes in healing damaged hair, starting with a 15-minute consultation to find a plan for damaged hair and other concerns. Danielle also teaches cosmetology classes and offers mentoring and coaching for stylists. Clients get free Wi-Fi, refreshments and product samples to try before buying. Appointments are booked online or by calling 828-298-4503, and the salon asks that only the person getting services come along.

More To Love is a plus-size consignment shop at 606 New Leicester Highway, Unit B, in West Asheville, in the Mountain Shopping Center behind Wynn's Diner. Owner Jazmin Whitmore opened it in 2019, and Mountain Xpress called it Asheville's only Black woman-owned plus-size consignment shop. Whitmore also won the Western Women's Business Center's 2021 Entrepreneur of the Year award. The racks hold more than 2,000 new and like-new pieces of clothing and accessories in sizes 12 and up, usually priced around 30% of their original cost. Consignors can bring in pieces during scheduled consignment windows. It's open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 AM to 6 PM.

OSEGA, the Olympic Start Elite Gymnastics Academy, is a gymnastics and ninja training academy for kids at 260 Rutledge Road in Fletcher. Owner Miles Avery is a four-time Olympic coach, a 2017 USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame inductee and a former American Ninja Warrior city finalist, and he coached 2004 Olympic champion Paul Hamm at Ohio State. Programs include competitive gymnastics and ninja teams, recreational classes, open gyms, the Bright Stars Pre-K program, camps and birthday parties. The after-school program adds supervised homework time, STEM activities, foam pit play and weekly training. The gym is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 7 PM, and families register through the online portal.

Strictly Wings is a wings and soul food truck serving the Asheville area as Strictly Wings South. Co-owner David Robinson opened the original restaurant on Sweeten Creek Road in Arden in March 2021, and after a fire destroyed it in March 2022, the team brought the food back on wheels. The menu is built around chicken wings in flavors like spicy buffalo and Parmesan, plus chicken strips, shrimp and pork chops.

Dreadlife Kitchen is a Caribbean soul food caterer and food truck based in Hendersonville, owned by Raynard Walker. Walker started in catering, moved into food trucks and opened a restaurant on Chimney Rock Road in 2018, which was featured on Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible in 2022. The restaurant has since closed, and Dreadlife now cooks from a food truck and for catered events and parties. The food mixes Southern comfort and Caribbean flavor: wings with five house sauces, fried chicken sandwiches, shrimp and grits, smoked meats, mac and cheese and collards. Each catering menu is built around the event.

Fusion Day Spa is a small day spa at 895 Haywood Road in West Asheville, run by licensed massage therapist and esthetician Katy Dalton. It started as Fusion Body Studio, a collective of therapists, and Katy reimagined it as Fusion Day Spa in 2018. The menu covers customized massage, facials, peels, microdermabrasion, body treatments and foot soaks, plus lymphatic enhancement therapy, a gentle tool-assisted treatment for swelling. The Epicuren Signature Facial uses proteins and B vitamins to brighten tone and refine texture. Every visit is by appointment, booked online or by text, and gift certificates are available.

Chrome Star Mobile Auto Detailing is a mobile auto detailing company in Asheville, NC, that comes to your driveway or office parking lot, so there's no dropping off the car. The crew has more than eight years of auto detailing experience on cars, trucks and motorcycles. Services include interior detailing that lifts dirt, stains and odors from carpets, seats and door panels; exterior detailing with a hand wash, paint decontamination and polish; ceramic coating that protects against water spots and UV; and headlight restoration for cloudy, yellowed lenses. Chrome Star covers Western North Carolina within about an hour of Asheville, including Hendersonville, Weaverville, Black Mountain, Fletcher, Arden, Candler, Canton and Waynesville.

Cooking with Comedy Catering is an Asheville catering company and food truck run by Chef Clarence Robinson, known as The Flavor King. Robinson has fed Western North Carolina since 2009, cooking traditional dishes with a new spin from fresh ingredients. He caters corporate events, private parties, weddings and milestone birthdays, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and drop-off options, and his food truck, Soul on the Road, brings the cooking to events around town. Robinson has competed on Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen and cooked on WLOS News 13's Carolina Kitchen, and he has taught free cooking classes for young people in the community.

Sistas on Montford is a counter-service soul food spot inside the Montford Convenience store at 231 Montford Ave in Asheville, open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 to 7 and Sunday from 3 to 7. Co-owners Khiyara Wynn and Rhonda Wynn carry on the recipes of Margaret Harrison, known as Sista, a longtime Asheville chef who ran the Ritz Cafe. Look for fried catfish, chicken wings, barbecue beef ribs, turkey wings with dressing and oxtail with gravy, with sides like collards, mac and cheese, broccoli casserole and potato salad.

Good Hot Fish is a counter-service fish fry at 10 Buxton Avenue in downtown Asheville, inspired by the Southern fish camps of old. The chef-driven menu spotlights Carolina fishermen with seasonal, classic recipes, and it's listed in the Michelin Guide for Asheville.