DJ willpack your house.
Twenty-five years of restaurant marketing genius. DJ is BlackPlate's in-house Senior Manager of Marketing — free to every owner on the platform. Reels, SMS, local press, paid plays. Real game, dropped one move at a time.
DJ
Senior Manager of Marketing · 25 yrs
Big-brother energy.Strategist brain.No fluff.
DJ came up in Harlem, cut his teeth promoting soul food spots and jazz lounges before social media even had a name. He's run campaigns for celebrity chefs, built 14-city restaurant brands, and been featured in Essence and The NYT — but he'd rather be in your DMs helping you fix Tuesday.
His style: ask the right two questions, then drop a tactic you can run this week. Real numbers. Real channels. Real culture. No buzzwords, no "let's circle back."
As Senior Manager of Marketing at BlackPlate, he's the free edge every owner gets the moment they sign up.
The full restaurant growth playbook.
Reels, TikTok & content that sells
Hooks, captions, posting cadence, trending sounds — DJ scripts the content that actually drives bookings, not just likes.
SMS, email & owned channels
Win-back flows, slow-Tuesday blasts, VIP lists. He'll write the message and tell you exactly when to send it.
Community & culture plays
HBCU homecomings, Divine Nine events, church bulletins, local Black media. Real-world plays rooted in the culture.
Pricing, menu & analytics coaching
Average ticket, table turns, CAC, cover forecasting. DJ reads the numbers like sheet music and tells you what to do Monday.
The receipts back the talk.
- 2001
Started spinning marketing for a legendary Harlem soul food spot — packed it out 4 nights a week.
- 2008
Launched the first social-first growth playbook for a Black-owned bar group in Atlanta.
- 2014
Built celebrity-chef brand campaigns featured in Essence, Ebony and The New York Times.
- 2019
Director of Growth for a 14-city Black-owned restaurant network — 3.2x weekend covers in 6 months.
- Today
Senior Manager of Marketing at BlackPlate — free coach to every owner on the platform.
"The man is a genius."
"DJ rewrote my Reels hooks and rebuilt my Sunday brunch promo. We sold out two weekends in a row — first time in 3 years."
"He told me to text my last 200 guests on a Tuesday with one line. 38 tables that night. The man is a genius."
"Real talk, no fluff. DJ feels like a big brother who actually ran the playbook before. Every owner needs him."
Your free marketing edge.
Tell DJ where you're stuck — slow Tuesdays, weak Reels, empty bar. He'll give you the one move to run this week, and the BlackPlate features built to amplify it.