After the Salute Awards ceremony concludes, join us for an unforgettable evening at Toast of the Town. Discover the entrepreneurs and innovators that make our community so special — from food and shopping to tech startups and our building community. Learn more about the featured businesses below. With your ticket purchase, you are uplifting these innovative entrepreneurs and accelerating a more equitable Detroit.
Eat, Shop & Experience
AT TOAST OF THE TOWN
Eat, shop and experience the best of Detroit's entrepreneurs at the 2023 Toast of the Town!
Eat
brownieDr (Learn more)
brownieDr’s hand-decorated brownies and blondies are baked from scratch and have flavor profiles inspired by Southern delicacies and childhood favorites.
Cafecito Alvarez (Learn more)
Cafecito Alvarez is a traveling coffee bar specializing in pop-up events and catering.
Detroit Soul (Learn more)
Detroit Soul is a family-owned and operated restaurant that provides fresh, made-from-scratch soul food that “leaves a smile on their face and in their heart.”
Estella’s Vegan Cuisine & Desserts (Learn more)
Estella’s Vegan Cuisine & Desserts has made its mission to spread the plant-based lifestyle and its many health benefits. Through catering, group cooking classes and pop-ups, Estella’s makes plant-based cooking accessible to the average person.
For the Love of Cheesecake (Learn more)
For the Love of Cheesecake offers specialty gourmet cheesecakes in various flavors and sizes, including their famous tiered cheesecakes.
Gajiza Dumplins (Learn more)
Gajiza is a family-owned and operated restaurant known for its delectable array of dumplings and authentic Southeast Asian cuisine.
Ice Cream Detroit (Learn more)
Ice Cream Detroit is Detroit’s only from-scratch frozen dessert company that specializes in liquor-infused ice creams and sorbets.
J&T’s Kitchen (Learn more)
J&T’s Kitchen is a Mexican family restaurant with a twist.
Konjo Me (Learn more)
Konjo Me is a unique and vibrant Ethiopian food experience that shares an appreciation for the rich and diverse global cuisine with the community it serves.
La Terraza (Learn more)
La Terraza, Detroit’s fine Mexican dining and entertainment hotspot, offers an exceptional menu featuring a variety of traditional dishes, seafood, soups and desserts. La Terraza is also a premier presenter of Mexican touring acts, filling a niche for metro Detroit’s Mexican American community.
Little Liberia (Learn more)
Little Liberia is an Afro-fusion pop-up restaurant and winner of the 2022 Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown. Founder and chef Ameneh Marhaba plans to open a restaurant that will introduce Liberia’s rich, multicultural cuisines to the people of metro Detroit.
U Drink I Make (Learn more)
U Drink I Make is a celebrity mobile bartending service through which signature beverages, social media and mobility collide.
Waka by Baobab Fare (Learn more)
Waka (which means shine) by Baobab Fare serves traditional East African street food, primarily a dish called chapati (a flatbread traditional to East African cuisine). Additional items on the menu include the Baobab Fare’s popular bottled ji passionfruit juice and hibiscus tea.
Experience
482 Forward (Learn more)
482 Forward is a citywide education-organizing network in Detroit. The network comprises neighborhood organizations, parents and youth committed to ensuring that all Detroit children have access to an excellent education, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status.
ART CLVB (Learn more)
ART CLVB is a revolutionary app for buying and selling art that supports royalty payments. Every artwork, whether in public or in a gallery, can be authenticated and becomes a point of sale.
Bouncing Around The Motor City (Learn more)
Bouncing Around The Motor City is Detroit’s premiere balloon and party event rentals, offering a one-stop shop with trained and knowledgeable staff who are certified balloon artists.
Cocoon Technologies (Learn more)
Cocoon Technologies is transforming safety for the sake of the community — civilians and law enforcement officers alike. With humanity and safety as its top priority, their tech solutions offer constructive dynamics as an interface for civilians and law enforcement officers.
Dovetail
Dovetail connects southeast Michigan’s nonprofits, foundations and service providers to the most crucial resource needed for flourishing communities — one another.
Featherstone (Learn more)
Featherstone is an immigrant-owned marketing and public relations agency based in Detroit and an ongoing supporter of people, businesses and organizations positively impacting communities.
Genesis Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (Learn more)
Genesis Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork takes a clinical approach to massage and body work, and believes that therapeutic massage is a healing art.
Global Ties Detroit (Learn more)
Global Ties Detroit serves as the private sector, nonprofit partner to the U.S. Department of State for professional, cultural, educational and youth leadership exchanges. Through international exchange programs and citizen diplomacy events, they promote Detroit and southeast Michigan as a center of global commerce, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Grounded (Learn more)
Grounded is an ex-SpaceX-founded startup building smart, modular, electric RVs. Its mission is to give people the freedom and self-reliance to live, work and explore anywhere, sustainably integrated within nature.
LIVAQ (Learn more)
LIVAQ is an electric off-road vehicle startup that designs and manufactures innovative, high-performance and sustainable vehicles for eco-adventure enthusiasts. Its focus is on coastal, desert and Caribbean regions.
My Beauty Kit (Learn more)
My Beauty Kit is a mobile app created to help beauty consumers discover new products, track where they can purchase from and keep a record of their favorites.
No Fear Cafe (Learn more)
No Fear Cafe creates fun and engaging educational programming for children and adults.
Ooh La La Events & Design, LLC (Learn more)
Ooh La La Events & Design elevates events into experiences through seamless planning, captivating decor and cutting-edge creativity.
The Damage Zone (Learn more)
The Damage Zone is Detroit’s first premier rage/smash room, offering an alternative therapy for emotionally reactive people of all ages. The Damage Zone offers realistic settings for destruction that address real life stressors.
Urban Electronics (Learn more)
Urban Electronics is a game studio focusing on combining emerging technologies into commercial, location-based applications. Its current focus centers around augmented reality and blockchain technologies.
Zero to Wear (Learn more)
Zero to Wear is a digital wardrobe app for all the women who open their closets full of clothes and still say, “I don’t have anything to wear!” In the app, you can upload, organize and style your wardrobe so you can be confident in your closet, as-is!
Shop
Black Rose Gallery (Learn more)
Black Rose Gallery sells an assortment of art supplies and believes an artist’s design is a unique reflection of themselves and has the potential to impact others positively.
Boho Luxe Detroit (Learn more)
Boho Luxe Detroit offers organic, hand-poured candles, bath bombs, sugar scrubs, soaps, sage bundles, crystal jewelry and crystal gifts.
Halie & Co. (Learn more)
Halie & Co. is a handmade jewelry company that believes everyone deserves high-quality and stylish jewelry and experiences that don’t break the bank. They offer permanent jewelry and handmade jewelry, as well as coconut soy wax candles that have been hand blended and poured.
Lynzi (Learn more)
Lynzi is a womenswear brand for style-conscious women who want to look and feel feminine with an edgy undertone.
Naturally ILLustrated LLC (Learn more)
Naturally ILLustrated LLC and its subsidiary, The Coloring Museum, are a social enterprise focused on supporting artists to grow their careers while using art to enhance mental health and quality of life. Through core values of diversity, inclusion and self-improvement, they create tangible coloring products and services for art therapy.
Not Sorry Goods (Learn more)
Not Sorry Goods is a Midwest-based brand that’s all about looking good, feeling good and doing good – unapologetically. By upcycling pre-loved garments with bold designs, focusing on eco-friendly materials and sourcing ethically-made goods, its intention is to be a leading sustainable & inclusive retailer of the future.
Quince Primaveras (Learn more)
Quince Primaveras features the largest in-store selection of garments for quinceañeras/Sweet 16s, proms and weddings in Detroit. They’ve also opened a second location with a wide assortment of baptismal attire, special occasion outfits and ornaments.
Rosemarine Textiles (Learn more)
Rosemarine Textiles is a sustainable studio that specializes in handcrafting home goods and accessories, including pillows, scrunchies, scarves and more. They meticulously craft each piece using vibrant, plant-based dyes and low-waste production methods.
