His name is Bonds, Rodney Bonds and his business is on a roll — a lobster roll.

“I was in the car with my kids and we were coming up with different ideas and we were just playing with the idea of lobster rolls and Brooklyn and then my daughter said, ‘Well, BK and Lobster sound good together!’ And we were like, ‘That’s a good name!’” said Rodney Bonds, BK Lobster’s franchise developer.  

What You Need To Know

  • Real estate franchise developer from Brownsville has brokered 16 BK Lobster locations since 2019

  • A recent Federal Reserve Bank study shows Black-owned businesses have been almost twice as likely to fail during the pandemic

  • Favorites like French bistro RDV-Rendezvous Harlem, Sushi Inoue on Malcolm X Boulevard, and Ethiopian restaurant Zoma all closed during the pandemic

It's also turned into a good business. The one-time real estate franchise developer from Brownsville has sold 16 BK Lobster   franchises across the country. One is going up on Harlem's Lenox Avenue in the middle of the pandemic.

“You have to say to yourself, ‘Am I going to make these conditions change my vision or am I going to adapt around the conditions?’” said Bonds. 

“We met with the staff and said, ‘Listen, guys. No one is losing their jobs, but everyone has to work together, everyone has to sacrifice somehow. We’re going to go with a skeleton crew, pump this food out, beef up our presence on third-party apps and provide delivery services and just keep going,’” added Ed Williams, the C.O.O. of BK Lobster. 

A recent Federal Reserve Bank study shows Black-owned businesses have been almost twice as likely to fail during the pandemic. Among the reasons, they're often located in areas hardest hit by the virus. Combine that with sometimes weaker banking relationships and it spells trouble. For BK Lobster, the key was partnership.

“You need a team because you can’t concentrate and focus on everything. If I’m over here concentrating on building stores, I need Ed to concentrate on making sure we raise money because I can’t do it all,” said Bonds.

“Business owners want to be in business by themselves, but our model is 100% of $100 is way less than 5% of 10 million dollars,” said Williams.

That model has worked for BK Lobster for nearly two years now. Other restaurants are not as lucky, having to close during the pandemic. And even as this new location goes up, Bonds is still selling.

“My brief advice is to be open minded. You have to know what you want, but be open-minded. You have to allow people in and allow people in your business and not just incentivize them with money, but allow them to express their creative gifts inside of the business and partnerships works. Partnerships are good things.”