OUR STORY

Before becoming a restaurateur, Eric Rogers, chef, and owner of Black Box Fix, was once a little 8-year old boy helping out at his Grandparent's restaurant. This is where he first learned how to cook with love and passion. The skill undoubtedly became part of him. His desire to give customers a WOW experience grew stronger and stronger until he couldn't resist the urge to become a restaurateur.
Dreaming big was the strength of Eric. Despite facing trials and tribulations, failures and mistakes, success, and perseverance, Eric was determined to keep going until he reached his ultimate goal. What started as a dream, marked by a leap of faith and hard work transformed into a significant success in a very competitive industry.

Eric still terms himself as a student in his profession. 'I am learning something new everyday while constantly trying to do things better and more efficient,' he says.
Thanks to the help of his supportive business partner and hard-working spouse, he is able to scale to greater heights every single day.

Today, Black Box Fix has grown beyond limits and expectations. But this only marks the beginning of a long and successful journey.

Black Box Fix is designed to offer a 5-star customer experience, tasty meals, and ambiance inside our stores.

Our values are centered around creating gourmet chef-inspired sandwiches and street food with a high-level service experience that will keep you yearning for more.
At Black Box Fix, we cherish loyalty and customer satisfaction. That's why we work so hard to stay innovative and better our services day in, day out.

We may not be perfect, but we are genuine and care a great deal about the products and services served.

Our doors are always wide open, ready to serve you.
At Black Box Fix, cooked with love, served with passion!

About The Owners

LaRese Purnell

Latoya Rogers

LaToya Palmer-Rogers, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. LaToya attended the city of Lyndhurst schools and graduated from Brush High in 1998. At an early age LaToya found that she had a God-given talent for music. Her dad Michael Palmer was a musician and the talents were passed to LaToya and as her passion grew for music so did her opportunities to shine. In 2007 LaToya became a lead vocalist and praise worshipper at renowned The Word Church which gave her the platform to show the masses her passion for praise and worship. LaToya now sings as a lead vocalist for The Remedy Church in Akron, Ohio.

In 2008 LaToya graduated from Inner-State Beauty School with a degree in cosmetology. Later she began her career working in prestigious Headline by DeFranco Salon along side good friend and mentor Demetria “Meechie” Francis. Building a robust clientele LaToya found that her passion for hair-styling was natural and fulfilling and her love continues to this day for the cosmetology field.

LaToya met her husband Chef Eric Rogers at the age of 17 while working together at Willoughby Hills Movies 10. What started as a mild crush led to a long standing relationship that has lasted 25 years, married since 2002 the couple is approaching 20 years of marriage. In 2012 as Chef Rogers prepared his leap of faith into the culinary world LaToya made the difficult decision to leave hair-styling to assist Rogers with opening their first restaurant Nevaeh Catering and Cuisine in 2013 in South Euclid, Ohio. Nevaeh was an instant hit in the community and a sensation on social media outlets ranging customers from all over northeast Ohio. LaToya, with her infectious and extraordinary smile and service skills became the face of service in the Nevaeh brand with customers loving her upbeat personality and warming customer skills. This element mixed with Chef Rogers innovative culinary skills proved to be a award winning and recognized partnership.

In 2015 as Chef Rogers created the Black Box Fix restaurant concept LaToya was right there supporting her husband and managing the front of the house operations for the brand. In all Chef Rogers and Latoya has owned and operated 14 restaurant concepts in Northeastern Ohio creating hundreds of job opportunities in the Cleveland community. Black Box Fix has grew into one of the biggest and most successful brands in Ohio. In 2017 Chef Rogers and LaToya became the first African American restaurant to open in prestigious Legacy Village Center in Lyndhurst. Capitalizing on the successful years at Legacy Village allowed the Rogers to further the reach of BBF into becoming the first African American restaurant to open in upscale Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. In 2020 a third BBF location was created in mid-town Cleveland at the Glenvillage shops on East 105th street in the same area where Chef Rogers grew up in.

With everything that LaToya has going on, she also finds time to be a great wife and mother to her beautiful 3 children Micah-20, Jaylen- 18 & Bella-7. LaToya is and will continue to be the heart and soul of the Black Box Fix brand and the face of a great customer service experience like no other.

Chef Eric Rogers

Chef Eric Rogers, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Eric attended Cleveland Public Schools and graduated from Collinwood High School in 1997. At the early age of 8 years old, young Chef Eric Rogers worked in his grandparent’s restaurant cooking family recipes that he uses today in some of his soulful dishes.

While most children his age were engaging in outside activities and video games, Eric was learning the art of cooking, which little did he know it would grow into an undeniable passion from the heart that would continue to be a legacy for his family.

In his early adult years, Chef Eric Rogers worked several jobs and engaged in numerous business ventures, but during these years cooking was still in his heart. He would cook for his friends and family all the time until it had got to a point where people started asking him to cater meals for them. Eric worked as finance manager for University hospital for 14 years, until his passion for cooking took over. He would often prepare dishes for his colleagues which started to get his flavors a lot of buzz. which he greatly enjoyed.

Chef Eric Rogers is a self-taught perfectionist in the kitchen. Every meal he prepares is a representation of who he is and where he comes from and he makes sure you taste it in every bite. Just to name a few of his most popular menu items, there is the famous OMG sandwich, the Railroader Burger (proudly named after the Collinwood High school mascot), and the Seafood Stoner Fries. When you taste his dishes, your taste buds are definitely going to thank you.

In 2013, after working for the hospital for 14 years, Eric made the decision to leave University hospitals and take a leap of faith in the culinary world. Shortly after his farewell, Eric opened his first restaurant Nevaeh Cuisine and Catering and from there he was unstoppable.
Chef Eric Rogers has opened 13 restaurants in the last 7 years, won countless awards and numerous tv appearances and also managed to be a contestant on Food Network’s Guys Grocery Games. He is very dedicated and works around the clock until everything is to his standards, and if you know Chef Eric Rogers, that is extremely high when it comes to “his” passion. The thing is, Chef Eric Rogers does not see this as work, he sees this as a service to the community. He was always taught to serve and give back to the community by his grandparents.

This service of giving back is highlighted by his engaged giving back to our senior community in conjunction with The Western Reserve on Agency on Aging providing 1000 gourmet meals a day to seniors in need. This is the type of work that would make his grandparents proud. Its not about the money or business for this chef, its about his service and contribution to the community and his elders, just like he was taught by his grandparents. As long as Chef Eric Rogers is giving back to the community and serving others, he will be fulfilled in his passion of what he says GOD has called him to do. For Chef Eric Rogers, everything else is just a bonus.
For Chef Rogers mentorship is very big. In 2019 Eric create the BBF Cares Foundation, dedicating his time to mentoring at risk inner city youths in the culinary business field. BBF Cares also gives away annual scholarship dollars raised by Black Box Fix and other local sponsors to provide scholarships to youths in the Cleveland Area.

With everything that Chef Eric Rogers has going on, he also finds time to be a great husband to his beautiful wife, Latoya of 18 years and a father to his beautiful 3 children. Yes, he has a full life but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He loves his life and as long as he is doing God’s work, in the words of Chef Eric Rogers, he’s “Winning on a Daily”.

Chef Eric Rogers is currently focusing on the Black Box Fix Brand which is currently located in Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, Ohio and The Shops at Glen Village Incubator Project which is in the very same neighborhood his grandparent’s restaurant once operated in.