This content is sponsored by EagleBank.
Being cool was never Jeff Black’s intent when he began buying from local farmers to supply produce, meat, eggs and more for the kitchen of his first restaurant in the Washington, D.C., area.
“I was buying local before it was cool or hip or fashionable,” Black told WTOP during our Small Business September 2025. “It was because the product is better. It was closer. It just made so much more sense.”
That local approach began in the mid-1990s and has since become an intentional strategy for how the Black Restaurant Group addresses every aspect of its business.
“If you own a business, you’re in a community — part of the fabric. You need to hold yourself to a higher standard. We looked at local banks, local professionals, local subcontractors,” Black said. “I started seeing the value of keeping the money in the community.”
By working with local businesses and suppliers across the metropolitan D.C. region, the restaurant group is investing in the communities where its restaurants — Black’s Bar & Kitchen, Black Coffee, Black Jack, Black Market Bistro, BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant, Pearl Dive Oyster Palace and Tilt — are located.
More than just a bank
Choosing to partner with businesses across the D.C. region — whether for food and kitchen supplies, financial needs or other back-office services — is how Black began working with EagleBank.
The bank opened its first branch in 1998 in Rockville, not far from Black’s first restaurant. Black said EagleBank’s own growth has matched his business’ expanding lending needs, making it a reliable long-term partner.
“In many ways, both organizations have grown up together,” said Kevin Gaughan, 1st vice president, commercial and industrial banking relationship manager at EagleBank.
Working together, Black and Gaughan expanded the business holdings of the Black Restaurant Group. For several years, Black rented his restaurant locations. But over time, he has partnered with EagleBank to buy several of these properties and invest in new locations from the get-go.
“They’re always able to handle our lending needs,” Black said.
Partnership is a two-way street when it comes to learning
He attributes the close relationship that he has with Gaughan, other EagleBank leaders and managers at the Bethesda branch — just around the corner from Black’s Bar & Kitchen — to helping him successfully move into the commercial real estate arena.
That’s the goal: Help local businesses grow and thrive, said Jessica Macias Vasquez, vice president, business banking relationship manager at EagleBank.
“We assist small to medium-sized businesses by providing them with specialized services like commercial real estate loans, deposit solutions, access to credit, cash flow mitigation, treasury management solutions, merchant solutions and more,” Vasquez said.
Black, though initially hesitant, said he embraced commercial real estate to secure long-term stability for his restaurant group. It helped that he could lean on his EagleBank team to understand the financial ramifications of his investment plans — particularly critical local aspects.
“I need partners who understand what’s going on in my market — not someone in another state who I see once a year,” Black said.
Regular conversations also often provide business intelligence. “Sometimes things will come up like, ‘Oh, by the way, did you know this is happening with this development?’ ” he said. “I get a lead that maybe I should go look at something.”
The partnership and the focus on community benefits Gaughan too — and other businesses that he works with across the DMV.
“Working with business owners like Jeff — really all of my small to medium-sized businesses — is fascinating work because you get to see how the economic and policy environment impacts these businesses in material ways,” Gaughan said. “It allows us to work with them as they adapt and pivot, while at the same time EagleBank is as proactive and collaborative as possible when tailoring financial services for the businesses in the communities we both serve.”
To learn more about how EagleBank partners with small business, go here. And to discover more insights for entrepreneurs, startups and SMBs shared during WTOP’s Small Business September, click here.
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