Meet Fabrice Armand | Co-Founder of the Creole Food Festival

We had the good fortune of connecting with Fabrice Armand and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Fabrice, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The thought process behind starting the Creole Food Festival was that we wanted to educate people about Creole Cuisine and its origins. This is important because most people only know New Orleans or Haiti to possess Creole food. We realized that there was a large educational component missing which is Creole, Kreyol, Kriol, Criollo, and Crioulo food is found in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, and the Southern United States, and it is all connected.

The second and equally as important reason is that we spoke with so many Black chefs and heard their plight in being typecast and always having to work at least 5 times harder to gain exposure and respect, in comparison to their white counterparts. So, we wanted to create an elevated and professional platform to showcase their value, creativity, and talent.

Lastly, In a world where the focus is often on what divides us, we wanted to create a food festival that celebrates and unites people through food and culture

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The first thing that sets us apart at the Creole Food Festival is that we are the only food festival that connects Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, and the South of the US.

The 2nd thing that sets us apart from other festivals is that our main focus is on the food, chefs, and caterers that participate in the festival. We are a festival that does not have vendors that are selling jewelry, knick knacks, art, etc. Besides the chefs, we invite wine and spirit brands, soft drink brands, and health brands surrounded around culinary, and culinary appliance brands. Think about all the stuff in your kitchen and how they serve in your culinary exhibition. We invite and want all of these brands to attend.

The 3rd thing that sets us apart from other festivals is that we provide the featured chefs participating in the Creole Food Festival with an honorarium and their food budget. We cannot say that we care about chefs and not provide them with the support that they need to succeed. We believe this is the reason why we have had so many reputable chefs like Gregory Gourdet, JJ, Todd Richards, Thiago, Gason, Kelvin, Cisse, Jennifer Hill Booker, BJ Dennis, and many more participate and align their brands with ours.

Acquiring corporate sponsorship has been very difficult, as well as getting venues to host the festivals. This was not due to a lack of pitching on our end—we even received some comments from venues about “our demographic not matching their brand,” and some brands hid under the guise of lack of budget while spending thousands on other initiatives. However, we continue to pitch in hopes that we will acquire sponsors and brands that want to invest in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

One of the main lessons we have learned along the way is to stay consistent, continue pitching and keep building. The journey of a mile begins with a single step and slow and steady will win the race. We believe in longevity and will not sacrifice our quality for anything. We are creating something for the culture & we hope that it will be something in our community that we can be proud of for decades to come.

I want the world to know we are a festival like no other and that we will transport them with our food to the countries being represented because we believe in authenticity. We pride ourselves on stimulating all of the senses at this festival. Join us on July 9th and you will not be disappointed

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I believe is a great city with an incredible array of restaurants/sites. Although I have been in food for multiple years, I am a history buff & hold a Masters’s degree in Political Science. I think anybody visiting Atlanta needs to understand the historical role Atlanta has played in our history and needs to visit neighborhoods like Sweet Auburn, will visit local Civil Rights landmarks, immerse themselves in Black arts and culture, and more.   The following are some additional sites that I would want my friends to visit.

Piedmont Park
National Center for Civil & Human Rights
Mercedez Benz Stadium for either a live performance or a game with the Atlanta Falcons
Spending a day visiting the Beltline and the food in the area
The Atlanta History Center
Atlanta Botanical Garden

In addition, we would definitely go support the following venues for food. Some of my fondest memories are always centered around great food, company, and cocktails.

Milk and honey for brunch
Atlanta Breakfast Club by Chef Anthony Sanders for brunch
Soul Food & Culture by Chef Todd Richards & Josua Lee
MsIceys for some Caribbean food
The Grey by Mashama Bailey
Fin & Feathers
Apt 4B by Chef Dayana Joseph
Juicehead ATL for some smoothies, juices, and Acai bowls
Farmed Kitchen & Bar by chef Daryl Shular and his incredible work teaching the next culinary generation

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to pay homage to the people of color that have been working in this industry for decades. We have people of color that have worked in this industry for decades and are now just starting to get their flowers which is a glaring oversight. In particular for us at the Creole Food Festival, we would like to thank our Chef advisor, chef Stephan Berrouet who is the founder of taste of Haiti & the Haiti Food & Spirits Festival, and Colleen Vincent from James Beard & Black Food Folks. In addition, we would like to thank the incredible chefs we have worked with and who believed in us from the beginning like BJ Dennis, Chef Kelvin, Chef Cybille-Tate from Honeysuckle, and the numerous chefs that continue to trust us with their brand and believe in our vision for this festival

Website: www.creolefoodfestival.com

Instagram: creolefoodfest & iamfabricej

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabricearmand/

Twitter: iamfabricej | creolefoodfest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CreoleFoodFestival

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4hhv5aFQpMg4rByHF-XUIg/videos

Image Credits
Photos taken by Theodore Samuels (Resident Photographer Creole Food Festival)