Pepsi Dig In recently continued its mission to support Black Restaurateurs at the Honeyland Festival. The platform, sparked by Pepsi in 2020 to expand accessibility and business growth to Black-owned restaurants, helped bring Honeyland to the greater Houston area to honor community and culture.
Honeyland Festival was developed as a first-of-its-kind experience in Sugarland, TX to showcase music, culinary achievement, and Black creativity in all forms. In its partnership with the inaugural event, Pepsi curated its own park within the space to celebrate Black culture, while also further supporting restaurant vendors to be at Honeyland.
At Pepsi Park, Honeyland attendees were introduced to the Dig In Reunion House, a hub to congregate by playing games such as spades and dominoes while honoring the journey of Black-owned restaurants. Pepsi Dig In also sponsored one restauranteur by covering the overhead costs to participate at Honeyland, all to increase profits that lead to their business expansion.
The recipient, Sianni Dean of Cranky Granny’s Sweet Rolls, spoke with BLACK ENTERPRISE about how Pepsi Dig In and her presence at Honeyland boosted her success. Dean recently won
a Vegas Residency at MGM Resorts for her gourmet desserts as a Top Voted Black-owned restaurant.“They have been giving small Black businesses like mine the opportunity [to] reach a larger audience,” the 24-year-old business owner shared. “Sometimes, we can’t afford to do things like this because of equipment, inventory costs, and labor. To feed 30,000 people is not an easy job, so for Pepsi Dig In to help us on the back end so that we can come out here to Honeyland to do that, it’s life-changing for us.”
Dean continued, speaking on how Dig In’s impact has changed the trajectory of her business so that her vision of success is on the path to fruition.
“I think it is one thing to just throw money at a business, but Pepsi Dig In is actually
coming in the back end to show us how to set our infrastructure to really be able to build up…Our long-term goal is to eventually franchise, so when we can have everything on the [foundation] together, everything else going up is going to be fine.”To continue this support beyond Honeyland, Pepsi Dig In has also expanded the opportunity for vendors on the grounds to participate in their Black Restaurants Deliver program. The free 8-week program provides expert consulting to digitally optimize these businesses to boost their search presence and online sales as part of its ongoing quest to ensure Black restaurants continue the thrive, even as the food industry evolves.
More information on Pepsi Dig In and their latest endeavors to support Black restauranteurs can be found on their website.