How the ‘Grits & Biscuits’ Party Grew into Well-Known Brand Among Professional Partygoers

The reputation of the Grits & Biscuits party precedes it. Announced randomly via Southern-culinary-themed fliers, and catering to those with an ear for music from the “Dirty South” and no fear of perspiration, Grits & Biscuits is a jam-packed, no-frills affair where, as a recent email blast put it, “you are able to recite 2 Chainz lyrics with… professional people without being judged.” Behind the event is the trio partygoers known as E.Z.Mo Breezy: Erika Lewis, 37, and brothers Alzo, 35, and Maurice Slade, 26, who hail from Raleigh, North Carolina, Tallahassee, Florida and Houston, Texas, respectively. While Grits & Biscuits parties are markedly carefree, E.Z.Mo Breezy takes what they do very seriously.

Erika and Alzo cooked up the idea for the party after realizing that there was a void of Southern music at events in New York. Maurice, who moonlights as DJ Square Biz, rounded out the group by coming on as “the minister of music,” as Alzo puts it. The innovative trio wanted the name of the party to epitomize their beloved home region of the U.S. “We wanted something that immediately when you heard it, you thought about the South,” says Erika. The first party was advertised through just an email blast, a Facebook invite, and word of mouth. Every party since has been sold out, attracting everyone from doctors, attorneys, and media professionals to Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Solange.

Gr

its & Biscuits celebrates its two-year anniversary this weekend, offering an additional party on Friday, July 27, after the Saturday, July 28, event sold out in four days. That will make nine Grits & Biscuits parties thrown in New York; there have also been two in Washington, D.C. The trio has been able to establish their novel brand in less than two years, attributing their success to remaining authentic, putting patrons first, and playing for the team.

Stay true: Erika, who Alzo credits as the “brains and strategic operational arm” of the crew, says that they didn’t know the majority of the people who showed up at the very first party. “But I think that they might have connected with what we were offering,” she says. “From day one, we’ve always tried to be very authentic in everything we give, so we’re really giving ourselves when you come into [what is] kind of our house.” Erika adds she and her partners are proud of where they’re from, and stay true to themselves and what they are representing: an aspect of the South. “Our audience understands where we’re coming from, [and] they know that by coming in, there’s no judgment,” Erika says. “It’s really just a place where you can be true to who you are, have a good time, and then go back to work and be about your business on Monday.”

Know yourself: While she h

asn’t faced any major challenges as a woman on the party promoter scene, there are times when Erika feels she needs to add “the female perspective” to E.Z.Mo Breezy’s conversations. “I’m fortunate that my partners respect my opinion and respect my perspective,” she says. “Sometimes I win and sometimes I don’t.” For Grits & Biscuits, Erika handles all venue relations and sponsorship opportunities, and assesses the party crowd throughout the night. She stresses the need to have a “strong business self”–especially for women–and know what you want to offer your patrons and how you want to present yourself to prospective venues and vendors. “You just have to have a very strong sense of self,” says Erika, who is a director at Scratch, a boutique consulting agency under Viacom. “You can’t compromise who you are and what your values are.”

Every patron is a celebrity: Yes, one of the most famous couples in the world was at their last event, but don’t expect E.Z.Mo Breezy to make a big deal out of it. “Let us say this: If you show up at our party, we’re celebrating you,” Alzo says. “So you are a celebrity. There is no one that comes to our party that is more important than anyone else.” The self-proclaimed “big mouth of the group,” Alzo creates the copy for the Facebook posts and fliers, and stays on the mic for the duration of the parties, making sure the crowd’s energy

stays up. “The experience of the patrons is number one,” he says. “If you allow that concept to slip, then for us, I feel like we’ve lost what we got into this business for in the first place.”

Business-minded: The genesis of the party was similar to that of other business ventures: There was a problem that needed to be solved. “For us, a problem that we saw was that there wasn’t an opportunity for professional people to enjoy themselves in an atmosphere that’s safe [and] that has no pretention,” says Alzo, who holds faculty positions at the International Center of Photography and the College of New Rochelle, and is founder of animation production provider Simple Smartie. “That was a problem for the three of us, and we just thought perhaps there are other people out there that want to enjoy themselves in the way that we do, so let’s provide an opportunity for people to do that.”

The right motivation: Maurice/DJ Square Biz‘s advice for aspiring DJs? Do it for the right reasons. “Don’t do it to be famous, don’t do it because you want to be the guy at the party who looks cool,” he says. “You should really do it for the love of the music.” Maurice says those who go into DJing with the wrong motivation don’t have a real sense of what people like and what works. While DJing the Grits & Biscuits

party, he will adjust his set based on the vibe he gets from the audience. “Do it for the right reason, and you’ll find yourself pretty successful because you’ll find your own lane of playing whatever style of music that you like,” says the FAMU graduate, who is a digital marketing manager at Roc Nation. “People gravitate to that.”

We before me: E.Z.Mo Breezy has a lot working behind the scenes to execute their parties. Maurice, who designs or corresponds with designers of the Grits & Biscuits fliers, says that he has learned that it’s best to work as a group than as an individual. “When you start going outside the team, or you start doing things on your own, then things will kind of slip up or fall apart a little bit,” he says. “Working inside the team is always key.” Maurice adds that working with his brother and Erika doesn’t seem like work, even when they’re talking business. “We have a lot of respect and we know each other pretty well on a personal level, [so] there’s no faking around, there’s no conniving–everything is pretty upfront.” He says if they need to handle business, they might do something like go to his brother’s house and eat breakfast. “We’re not at a conference table; it’s not like some huge business meeting. It’s quite casual,” Maurice says. Alzo adds, “It’s good breakfast, too. Grits and biscuits, baby.”