In The News

With Nasdaq’s Opening Bell Ceremony on Tuesday, March 29, PepsiCo leaders and Latina entrepreneurs celebrated the launch of Jefa-Owned, a national visibility campaign powered by the Juntos Crecemos platform to encourage more Latina-owned food and beverage small businesses to apply for the personalized business building support services.

Pepsico recently launched the "Jefa-Owned" national campaign which aims to offer support and resources to help small businesses stay afloat. The campaign will also provide businesses with tools to help them compete in today's digital world. To mark the launch of the campaign, Pepsico leaders joined Latina business owners to ring the opening bell at NASDAQ. We spoke to Claudia Berroa, a Bronx small business owner, and Antonio Escalona from Pepsico about the campaign.

For Claudia and Richard Berroa, owners of the Michelin-rated Claudy’s Kitchen, there is a concise motto that sums up their culinary success: “Hacemos comida que es buena, bonita, y barata.” A small Latino-owned take-out restaurant located on the upper boundary of the Bronx, where the 1 train ends and Westchester nearly begins, Claudy’s Kitchen has triumphantly reached universal acclaim.

Well-known chef Aaron Sanchez presented a $10,000 check to the owner of 8 Burger in Little Havana on Wednesday. The family-owned business took a devastating hit in sales during the pandemic, but the owner and his son remained open to keep the dream alive with the help of PepsiCo foundation and Sanchez.

El Paso's modern Mexican restaurant Elemi received a $10,000 grant from PepsiCo's Juntos Crecemos platform. Juntos Crecemos is a new $50 million platform aimed at strengthening Hispanic-owned businesses, specifically restaurants, bodegas and carnicerías (meat markets) in the midst of a pandemic that has threatened the survival of small businesses.

Many businesses have suffered losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Hispanic businesses in particular have taken a hit. According to a Stanford University study, 86% of Hispanic small business owners reported significant impacts and were half as likely as their white counterparts to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. To combat this, PepsiCo launched a $50 million platform recently to support Hispanic-owned businesses.

Burger 8, a Miami burger-joint was surprised when celebrity chef and television personality, Aarón Sánchez showed up at their restaurant Wednesday morning. Sanchez arrived at Burger 8’s Calle Ocho restaurant ready to change, owner and operator, Jesus Daza’s day. Together Aarón Sánchez and PepsiCo’s Juntos Crecemos program donated $10,000 to the Miami-based restaurant, as Miami’s IMPACTO grantee.

As a direct response to this impact on Hispanic small business owners, the launch of Juntos Crecemos (Together We Grow) will commit over $50 million to provide immediate resources to restaurants, bodegas and carnicerías. As part of the platform, The PepsiCo Foundation has committed $10 million dollars through the IMPACTO Hispanic Business Accelerator, from which 150 local businesses are immediately benefiting, receiving one $10,000 grant each in addition to mentorship and coaching.

COVID-19 has been really tough for Hispanic restaurant owners to navigate in the last year and a half. The pandemic hit the Hispanic community harder than it did a lot of others, resulting in excessive illness and death rates, job losses, and economic instability. Hispanic women business owners were especially impacted. A 2020 Stanford University study found that twice as many Latina-led companies closed compared to Latino-led businesses, 30% vs. 16%.

As a result of the pandemic, 86% of Hispanic small business owners reported significant negative impacts. As a direct response Juntos Crecemos, Together We Grow, will commit over $50 million to provide immediate resources to restaurants, bodegas, and more. As part of the platform, the Pepsico Foundation has committed $10 million dollars through the Impacto Hispanic Business Accelerator as well. Esperanza Teasdale, VP and GM of Hispanic Business at Pepsico, and Lupillo Ramirez, President of the Latino Food Industry Association are here with more.

Mega brand PepsiCo is pouring out some help and a whole lot of cash for Hispanic-owned businesses that have suffered amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including one traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurant in San Antonio. As part of PepsiCo’s newly launched $50 million Juntos Crecemos platform — which aims to strengthen Hispanic-owned businesses (particularly restaurants, bodegas, and carnicerías) across the U.S. — and the PepsiCo Foundation’s Impacto Hispanic Business Accelerator, San Antonio’s Taco Broadway received a $10,000 grant to help the restaurant recover from pandemic-related business setbacks

PepsiCo Inc. is rolling out Juntos Crecemos (Together We Grow), a $50 million platform that seeks to strengthen Hispanic owned businesses, specifically restaurants, bodegas and carnicerías (meat markets); address foundational business challenges; and support business growth over the next five years. Juntos Crecemos is part of PepsiCo's Racial Equality Journey Hispanic Initiative, a $172 million set of commitments launched in October 2020.

In October 2020, PepsiCo launched its Racial Equality Journey Hispanic Initiative. The company made a set of commitments and set aside $172 million for the initiative. On Aug. 31, it announced a new $50 million platform as part of the initiative. Called Juntos Crecemos, meaning Together We Grow, it is aimed at strengthening Hispanic-owned businesses…