This story is part of our Start. Build. Grow. series, a celebration of Black business.
For Bronx-born culinary collective Ghetto Gastro, food is a movement. It’s a way to share personal stories and culture with as many people as possible. “No matter how it’s consumed, our shit has to hit. Non-negotiable,” they proudly proclaim on their website.
Now, Ghetto Gastro is one step closer to global kitchen domination with an exclusive line of breakfast items for Target. Their new mouth-watering collection includes a sweet potato pancake and waffle mix, a spicy maple syrup and a healthier version of Pop-Tarts in four flavor varieties.
But besides using damn good flavors, the Ghetto Gastro collection is also better for you. Their maple cider syrup is exactly that, made simply with organic dark maple syrup and apple cider syrup. And their strawberry toaster pastries have fewer calories and none of the high fructose corn syrup found in Pop-Tarts that has been linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
When The Root spoke with co-founder Jon Gray back in 2022, the Bronx native shared how he developed the idea for Ghetto Gastro with friends and chefs Lester Walker and Pierre Serrao as a way to combine their love of food, fashion and art to bring healthy, high-quality food that honors the flavors of the ancestors to the masses.
“People often have difficulty looking at things with Black roots as luxurious. So for us, that was super important,” he said. “We’re reclaiming [Ghetto] and defining it how we want to.”
What started with catered house parties for their friends has evolved into a global brand that has partnered with leading brands like Cartier, Nike and Target, something Gray says is all part of their idea to use food to share Black stories with larger audiences.
“We want to provide more nutritional benefits to communities like ours that have been neglected or systemically engineered to have bad food,” he said. “We want to create content that penetrates the psyche, that shows people what’s good for them without being preachy.”
You can check out the new Ghetto Gastro breakfast collection here.