Cynthia Daniels wasn’t sure what to expect when she launched Memphis Black Restaurant Week in 2016, but she was going to be happy if she managed to get an extra 200 people to eat in the eight local- and black-owned restaurants she featured.

Somewhere closer to 5,000 people came in that year, and it’s grown so much each year since that last year, the participating restaurants combined had more than $450,000 in sales.

“The food delivery services really helped us so much last year,” Daniels said. “If you’re in Cordova and you want food from Downtown for lunch, well, you don’t have the time. But you can have it delivered and if it takes 40 minutes to get there, it doesn’t matter because you’re in your office anyway. UberEats, Grubhub — they were great.”

This year, its fifth, Memphis Black Restaurant Week is March 8-14 and the Soulful Food Truck Festival, which has moved to Tiger Lane this year, is March 15, noon-6 p.m.

Participating restaurants mostly offer a two-course lunch for $15 and a three-course dinner for $25. This year, there are 12, and most will be open regular hours, which means they might be closed on Sunday or Monday; call ahead. They are:

• The Waffle Iron, 4969 Park Ave.: 901-440-8533
• Sage Restaurant, 94 S. Main: 901-672-7902
• The Office @ Uptown, 594 N. Second St.: 901-522-1905
• The Four Way, 998 Mississippi Blvd.: 901-507-1519
• Chef Tam’s Underground Café, 668 Union Ave.: 901-207-6182
• Robusta by Havana Mix, 250 Peabody Place: 901-522-2909
• Ballhoggerz BBQ, 1404 Airways Blvd.: 901-279-1758
• Curry N Jerk, 126 Monroe Ave.: 901-480-8380
• Phillip Ashley Chocolates & Café, 1200 Madison Ave.: 901-572-1011
• Mahogany Memphis, 3092 Poplar Ave.: 901-623-7977
• Flava House Lounge, 95 S. Main St.: 901-907-0502
• Flava House Express, 6343 Summer Ave.: 901-275-8638

It’s the first year for Arturo Azcarate, the owner of Curry N Jerk. He plans to pare down his menu a little for the week.

“I’ve heard it’s going to be a very busy week and since it’s my first time, I think we need to pull back a little so we’ll be ready,” he said.

At every meal, he’ll offer a vegan selection: Black beans and rice, a vegan burger or jerk vegetable medley. And he’ll have his signature oxtails on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. The regular menu will be back March 16.

“I want to introduce people who have never been to the Caribbean to the flavors,” said Azcarate, who is from Panama. “Everyone thinks of this as Jamaican food, but it’s West Indies food, and it is delicious.”

Chef Tamra Patterson learned her lesson the first year she participated.

“I’d only been open a few days but I said ‘Aw, I can do this,’ and I had the whole menu available. Well, by day two I cut that down,” she said.

In her tiny Cooper-Young restaurant that had seating for 35 people, she served about 300 people every day. This year, she’s moved to a much larger space and expects she’ll serve around 900 people.

“Well, I’m a little bit nervous about it, but we’ll do fine,” she said. “We’ll be open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., then we’ll shut down and reopen at 4 p.m. to get everything back together, then stay open an hour later at night for dinner.”

Daniels moved to Memphis in 2009 to take a job with a local company and immediately got involved in the community, volunteering with various groups and the Memphis Urban League in particular. She ended up organizing so many events that she eventually opened her own company, Cynthia Daniels & Co. Last month, she was named the best event organizer at The Tri-State Defender’s Best in Black Awards.

“I only planned to stay here two years,” she said. “I guess it’s been a little longer than that.”