Monetta White and David Lawrence are the owners of Black Bark BBQ. Black Bark BBQ is a quick serve barbecue restaurant in San Francisco’s Fillmore District. They offer Texas-style BBQ that emphases good quality, excellent service, affordable prices, and comfort food. Black Bark BBQ is known for their brisket, and in fact their restaurant is named after the black bark that you find on the meat when you smoke it. They opened in January 2016, and now they have 16 employees. They were named The Best BBQ Joint in California by Thrillist in 2016.
Black Bark BBQ’s loan from Main Street Launch provided the business with working capital. “For us working capital helped our overall cash flow by giving us the money we needed as we were first starting to go at full speed. It helped us with payroll, some inventory, and marketing for our new business,” she explains. “Especially when it’s hard to get traditional capital, having someone believe in you has a huge impact. Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money when you need it.”
