PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y., announced the launch of its Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos (Together We Grow) Edition. This year marks the eighth year of the Greenhouse Accelerator program, and the first-ever Hispanic edition, which focuses on driving growth of emerging Hispanic-owned food and beverage businesses through collaboration and innovation.

PepsiCo launches Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos Edition

Emerging Hispanic-owned food and beverage businesses making or selling consumer goods or providing food and beverage services across the country can apply to the Greenhouse Accelerator: Juntos Crecemos Edition program.

From the pool of applicants, PepsiCo will select 10 high-potential brands, products and/or foodservice concepts to join the Greenhouse Accelerator program in June. The 10 innovators will receive $20,000 in grant funding and participate in a six-month business program designed to accelerate their growth through personalized mentorship. PepsiCo mentors will collaborate with the selected start-ups to solve a range of business challenges, including brand development, scaling technology, business model development, product optimization and go-to-market strategy.

The companies will execute an initiative to demonstrate collaboration and tangible results, and in August, they will share their initiative progress and present updates in a virtual event to the evaluation committee. In November, the highest potential business will be awarded by an expert selection committee an additional $100,000 to continue its expansion and an opportunity to continue working with PepsiCo and Juntos Crecemos to further their growth.

“In line with PepsiCo’s Racial Equality Journey goals to support and uplift diverse suppliers, this year we chose to focus on Hispanic-owned entrepreneurs,” said Esperanza Teasdale, vice president and general manager of the Hispanic Business Unit at PepsiCo Beverages North America, in a statement. “We are extremely excited and proud to offer diverse companies an opportunity to grow their businesses with our support, especially emerging food and beverage brands. Through our mentorship program and grants we hope to see these businesses grow and further expand within the food and beverage industry.” BI

Beverage Industry and BNP Media Events marked the 16th edition BevOps Fleet Summit April 11-13 at the M Resort Spa & Casino in Henderson, Nev. Attendees gathered at the conference to learn and discuss a range of topics impacting the warehouse and distribution operations, including digital solutions, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, alternative fuel sources, automation innovations, packaging impacts and much more.

The education portion of the conference began with a keynote address from Scott DeFife, president of the Glass Packaging Institute. DeFife presented a State of the Packaging Supply Chain, offering an update on recent supply challenges, as well as a lay of the land on state-by-state recycling efforts that impact every tier of the beverage distribution landscape.

Following the address, the State of the Industry panel discussion featured Lester Jones, chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association; Gary Hemphill, managing director of research for Beverage Marketing Corporation; and Jeff Cioletti, editor-in-chief of Craft Spirits Magazine, The American Craft Spirits Association. The experts detailed the changes impacting the non-alcohol and alcohol markets, including inflation and hiring constraints.

BevOps addresses latest in warehouse, distribution

Next up were Andy Yananich, director of consulting service at PDC, and Chris Tuttle, vice president of customer solutions at Ortec. The two detailed how wholesalers of today can truly optimize their operations as part of the panel Defining ‘Optimization.’

For the afternoon, attendees ventured to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ride and Drive, which included fleet solutions as well as equipment demonstrations.

The next day, Andrew Levy, senior vice president of strategy and corporate affairs at Provi, presented the opening keynote address, where he examined the out of stock issues that were present during the pandemic as well as rapid growth of the online beverage alcohol market and how it can aid today’s operations.

Before the next panel, was the presentation of the Beverage Industry Awards for Wholesaler of the Year to Reyes Beer Division and Fleet of the Year to Manhattan Beer Distributors.

The final center stage presentation featured Matt Boykin, senior vice president of sales and marketing of CirrusTech, and Dylon Graham, operations director of Long Beverage. The Importance of Distributor Collaboration and Automation panel highlighted the importance of collaborating with the distributor on designing the best solution for business plans.

Following a break for dedicated exhibit time and the sponsored roundtable luncheon, attendees were able to sit in on targeted break-out sessions focused on the operations and distributing trends affecting not just today’s needs and challenges but what lies ahead. BI

Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Sales & Services Company (CCBSS), a limited liability company owned by nearly 70 independent Coca-Cola bottlers, opened a new office at 8125 Highwoods Palm Way, Tampa, Florida, to accommodate collaboration and cultural engagement. In addition to the corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, the new office space in Tampa supports the company’s operational strategy of innovation and sustainability. This development is a strong testament of the Coca-Cola System’s commitment to U.S.-based shared service operations, the company says. The newest CCBSS office is an upgrade from its previous location to a modern, collaborative, and vibrant workplace home for its Florida-based associates, it adds.

Dokkaebier, San Francisco, announced it acquired Federation Brewing for an undisclosed amount. “We thank Federation Brewing for giving us the opportunity to cement Dokkaebier’s roots in Oakland. We are proud that our first flagship brewery and taproom will continue to be a space for the underrepresented in our industry,” said Dokkaebier Founder and CEO Youngwon Lee in a statement. Dokkaebier will continue producing Federation Brewing’s craft beers, retain its workforce, and take over operations of the Oakland, Calif.-based brewery and taproom. Located at 420 3rd Street near Jack London Square, the taproom will soon be rebranded as Dokkaebier and feature beers from Dokkaebier, Federation Brewing and Hella Coastal, the company says.

Next Century Spirits announced the addition of Tom Spisak as chief financial officer. Spisak joins the organization after three years at Reed’s Inc. While at Reed’s Inc., Spisak served as chief financial officer where he enacted financial disciplines across the firm, established key banking relationships and guided the company during the macro-inflationary environment spawned by COVID-19. From a day-to-day perspective, Spisak will work out of the Next Century Spirits Fairfield, Conn.-based office as a cross functional collaborator throughout the entire global organization. Spisak will be responsible for managing the company’s cost management efforts, delivering the company's fiscal year financial plan, building its financial team and aiding in Next Century Spirits overall growth and profitability.

Petaluma, Calif.-based Springboard Wine Co., a business specializing in wholesale representation of quality driven wine and spirits producers from around the world, is proud to announce national certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise Council – Pacific, a regional certifying partner of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). “We realize the success of being a women-owned business goes well beyond representing family-owned Distilleries and Wineries,” said Elizabeth Corsini, co-owner and president, in a statement. “We all need to do more. Supporting organizations that share our values and represent causes we believe are important and worthy is a part of doing more. The WBENC is dedicated to promoting and celebrating the hard work of women everywhere, and we felt compelled to add our voice and participate in their efforts.”

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA)’s Chairman, Tom Cole, called upon colleagues across the beverage alcohol industry to support WSWA’s new policy position regarding the federal legalization and regulation of adult-use cannabis. In an address at the Association’s annual premiere-industry event, Access LIVE, Cole used the opening remarks as a rally cry to the industry, urging colleagues to apply lessons learned in the safest, most diverse, and most competitive alcohol marketplace in the world to the emerging cannabis sector. “The beverage alcohol industry’s commitment to public health and safety is something that sets us apart from other consumer products,” Cole said in his remarks. “We believe that the successful state-based regulatory model, which has served America’s consumers and our industry so well, should be a part of the discussion. I call upon my industry colleagues to support our efforts and to lend your voice and experience to the conversations happening on Capitol Hill.”