NBA Bubble Gives New Life to Local Restaurants During Pandemic

After players advocated to help local businesses while in the bubble, the NBA partnered with a handful of Black- and Latinx-owned restaurants to deliver food when needed.

At around 5 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 7, Heat guard Duncan Robinson was thinking about dinner plans for himself and some of his teammates. So the sharp-shooting guard sent a text message to Joshua Johnson, the 31-year-old owner of Seana’s Caribbean Soul Food, a local Orlando restaurant. “Any chance you guys are delivering tonight?” Robinson asked.

Johnson responded saying that they were, but that because their food is cooked fresh, they needed at least 30 minutes of runway to prepare a proper order. Around a half-hour later, Robinson followed-up. “Sorry about that!!! Just wanted to make sure I got everybody’s order right,” he said.

The delay is easily excusable. The Michigan product was ordering not just for himself, but for forwards Andre Iguodala, Solomon Hill and Kelly Olynyk. The Heat players’ order consisted of four jerk salmon dishes, two oxtail dishes, four sides of yellow rice and four sides of sweet plantains. It also included wings, side salads, baked beans and collard greens. “Fire as always,” Robinson wrote to Johnson afterward.

Seana’s (pronounced Shawna’s) is just one of a handful of local, Black- and Latinx-owned restaurants that have been league-approved to deliver into the NBA’s bubble and just part of a delicious smorgasbord of culinary options.

Among other restaurant and catering choices, chef Shawn Loving was brought into Disney World from Detroit and provides food to teams and players as the general manager of the Executive Chef Kitchen. In August, he told the Detroit Free Press, his kitchen made 120–140 meals a day. Chef Alexia Grant, who is also the personal chef for Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, operated a pop-up Comfort Kitchen by Lex Grant restaurant in Disney, and provided breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch options to bubble attendees. According to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, “Chef Lex” left the bubble last week following the elimination of more teams. Sofrito Latin Café, Justins Caribbean Fusion Restaurant and 1,000 Degrees Pizza are other Black- and Latinx-owned Orlando restaurants that have been delivering. And that’s just the tip of the culinary iceberg (lettuce).

In restarting the league in Orlando, both players and those in the league office emphasized the importance of supporting businesses owned by people of color. Food is just one way they’ve done so.

“It’s given me hope again,” says Dannie Justin, the owner of Justins Caribbean Fusion Restaurant.

COVID-19 wreaked immediate havoc on the restaurant industry as the virus spread throughout America. According to information released by the National Restaurant Association, restaurant sales were down 47% nationwide between March 1 and March 22. Between February 2020 and April 2020, full-service restaurants shed more than 3.5 million jobs, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And data released by Yelp in mid-July found that 60% of restaurants on the platform that initially shut down during the pandemic permanently closed.

Johnson, who opened Seana’s in January, recalls thinking he was “99% sure” he would lose his restaurant because of COVID-19. Maria Molina, the owner of Sofrito Latin Café, a fast-casual joint that opened in 2015, was unsure of how her business would sustain after her sales dropped 80% in March. “You didn’t know what was going to happen,” she explains.

The bubble’s restaurants and catering services came by way of recommendations from local league contacts, local diverse advocacy organizations, and players and staff. Originally from Venezuela, the 41-year-old Molina says that the NBA approached her in early July about delivering to the bubble. Justin, who opened her restaurant in December 2019, says a league representative contacted her at the end of July.

Johnson says he believes the NBA initially sent a “secret eater” to his restaurant to try his food before giving Seana’s the go-ahead. The local restaurants that deliver have to act in accordance with NBA-required health and safety protocols. Each also has a specific delivery drop-off spot on campus.

On Aug. 3, the Dallas Mavericks became the first team to try Seana’s cooking. Among other details of their meal, they ordered 250 wings, 100 fried shrimp, at least a half-dozen oxtail dishes and plenty of mac and cheese. They enjoyed the restaurant’s food so much that Johnson says Dallas ordered at least five additional times before leaving the bubble.

Molina says the Pelicans placed her biggest order yet—dining on flavorful Cuban and Tripleta sandwiches, among other sandwich types, and a variety of homemade empanadas. She’s served most teams, including the Celtics, 76ers and Lakers. Like with the general public, Sofrito’s churrasco steak has been her most popular seller to NBA players (though, Dominican Republic native Al Horford was especially fond of Molina’s patacon).

Justin says that the frequency of NBA-related orders has decreased as more teams have left the bubble. Still, she says her sales from August were up around 7% from what they were in July. Unlike Molina and Johnson, Justin made the decision to close her restaurant from mid-March to early May due to expensive overhead costs. Her work with the NBA has offset some of her deficit.

“We appreciate the fact that the NBA took the time to give individual minority-owned restaurants the opportunity to feed the players,” she says.

The impact of the NBA dealing with these restaurants will also extend past October, when the league vacates Disney. Customers are already venturing to Seana’s looking to order what LeBron James has had.

And for those wondering, on at least one occasion, the four-time league MVP dined on Johnson’s fried red snapper, collard greens and liquid gold mac and cheese.

Molina says her 16-year-old son has taken particular joy in learning more about her new customers, frequently asking about player-specific orders. Instead of names in particular, though, she relishes that her new customers have quickly become returning ones.

“When you get the same person over and over again, that’s a good sign,” Molina says. “That’s really some of the best feedback.”

Johnson agrees with that notion. And clearly Robinson and his teammates liked their Labor Day meal.

Monday night, one day before beginning the Eastern Conference finals, Robinson and his teammates ordered from Seana’s again.

“All light and healthy,” Johnson says of their order. “Sort of.”