PURCHASE, NY: Before next Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII, PepsiCo Beverages North America and Frito-Lay have teamed up to give $50,000 and other resources to five Phoenix-based Hispanic-owned businesses.
As part of the campaign, Latino actor, producer and activist Wilmer Valderrama hand-delivered $10,000 checks to the owners of Puerto Rican restaurant Phoenix Coqui and Mexican eatery Rosita’s place.
Antonio Escalona, SVP and GM of PepsiCo Foods North America’s Hispanic business unit, said the initiative serves a dual purpose: offering support and increasing visibility.
“We know how much traffic [increases] in the market in the city that hosts the Super Bowl,” he said. “We realized that many of the businesses in the area, especially small businesses, probably are not prepared to cope with the significant growth in attendance.”
In 2020, the Super Bowl Host Committee and Miami Beach commissioners revealed the influence of hosting the big game: 4,597 new jobs for the area and a total economic impact of $571.9 million.
The three other Phoenix businesses include Carnicería México, Imelda Happy Tamales and Tacos Tijuana.
As well as financial assistance, PepsiCo has enabled access to digital resources through its Juntos Crecemos Hispanic digital and delivery program, helping the restaurants enhance their online presence, delivery logistics, online ordering and marketing practices.
“We thought it would be a great opportunity to bring lots of eyes to the small businesses, generating more support, traffic and, ultimately, profitability,” Escalona added.
PepsiCo’s campaign builds upon its Juntos Crecemos (Together We Grow) initiative, launched in 2021. The platform aims to strengthen Hispanic-owned restaurants, bodegas and meat markets to address foundational business challenges and bolster growth. Boden, which is working on media relations for the Super Bowl campaign, helped launch the initiative.
Juntos Crecemos is part of PepsiCo’s $50 million, five-year commitment to support Hispanic-owned businesses. In November, the food and beverage corporation announced it had increased its Hispanic managerial representation from 9% in 2021 to 9.6%.
