The Seahawks and the Intentionalist, an online marketplace for small businesses and diverse local communities, partner with different minority small businesses throughout the Seattle area and host Happy Hour with the Hawks where they visit restaurants and offer food and drink specials. We interviewed some of the restaurants that have partnered with the Seahawks through the program this season.

**Dom’s Banana Pudding**

Why is it important to support local minority owned businesses?

It's important to support local minority owned businesses to help them in noticed and get their business out to other on a larger platform like the Seahawks who have a lot of exposure. My partnership with the Seahawks has impacted my business and has given me a lot of exposure following my first interview with the Seahawks. My website and Instagram page traffic spiked up very fast and I also added more customers to my list for business.

**Hood Famous**

How has your partnership with Intentionalist and the Seahawks impacted your business?

Partnering with the Intentionalist has helped our business greatly. Through the Intentionalist, we are now a part of a small business community of other like-minded business owners and guests that can support one another. We've also been able to partner with larger local organizations like the Seahawks that have a reach that we would never have been able to access without their partnership. In a time where operational costs increase and marketing dollars are that much harder to carve out for a small business, being able to partner with an organization like the Seahawks is incredibly valuable.

Can you share what that experience the Happy Hour with the Hawks experience, was like for you and your business?

Our Seahawks Happy Hour at Hood Famous Cafe + Bar was the greatest day party in Chinatown-International District! Our community was able to take photos with Blitz, Seahawks Dancers and Seahawks Legend Thomas Rawls while getting treated to Filipino food. I think when our community is able to see these types of partnerships, it bridges our two adjacent neighborhoods - SODO and the CID and helps create more vibrant and engaged neighborhoods.

**Taste of Caribbean**

Why is it important to support local minority owned businesses?

Supporting local minority owned businesses helps to empower communities economically, create jobs and promotes equality. For us, as a Jamaican restaurant, it helps to ensure that our diverse voice and rich culture is represented in the business landscape of Seattle.

**Moe Vegan**

Why is it important to support local minority owned businesses?

When local minority businesses thrive, they often reinvest back into the communities to build a stronger economy. Also, a lot of minority businesses often run into the same challenges, such as funding and lack of resources, which can limit our success from scaling in a timely manner. Another reason why it's important to support local minority businesses is because the Black community is only 6 percent of the population in Seattle. It's very key that our youth are able to see someone who looks like them owning a successful business. Where I come from, "seeing is believing."

Frelard Tamales

How has your partnership with Intentionalist and the Seahawks impacted your business?

We have received a lot of messages from customers that they have heard of us because of the cross-marketing with the Seahawks. We also really appreciated the lunch promo we did with the team and the amount of exposure the social media posts created for us. This partnership is a gift that keeps giving and it's more than just the social media exposure but the financial benefits we have received from new and returning customers. Our team loved the Happy Hour with the Hawks experience. It was so cool to see a line of 80+ people waiting outside our take-out window for one of the meal deals. It also gave us an opportunity to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood since we just opened here in Fremont (moved from Green Lake). Our staff had so much fun and it was beautiful to see our space full during a usually slow lunch day. And of course, the sales were very helpful for our costs of the month.