A Black Brewer Experience: Navigating White space and managing its culture

Abstract

The craft beer industry is dominated by images of bearded White men and represents what is considered a “White space”. In the present research, we explore racism and discrimination in the marketplace by advancing an understanding of Black-owned business experiences within an industry culture dominated by Whiteness. This phenomenological inquiry utilized a storytelling framework (Bell, 2020) to study the ways in which Blackness is explained, minimized, or celebrated in the development of counter-narratives enacted to challenge the dominant narrative within the craft beer industry. Our findings, obtained from interviews with 27 Black brewers, explain how color-blind racism is encountered, history is reframed, and an inclusive future is envisioned through the explication of concealed, resistance, and emerging stories, respectively. Our study answers the call for marketing scholars to more critically engage with how race and racism impact marketplace interactions, particularly among minoritized business owners.