Snacking Your Way With Healthy Snacks
Grecia Diaz arrived in the Pittsburgh region in 2016 from Venezuela and quickly embraced the new life in Pittsburgh. After working in a handful of different roles, her entrepreneurial spirit called her to start an independent business where she could create, direct, manage, and deliver. Knowing that the food industry was going through a transformation into more healthy choices and knowing that food preferences were trending toward small, quick and flavorful bites, she started to analyze the snack market. Her family was always involved with running their own businesses which gave her the confidence to start her own. With the support of both her husband and her daughter, Grecia decided to start her new venture, SnackEver, in 2020 during the pandemic.
The entire family worked hard to save money and started a home-based business, kicking off with an exciting website that drove SnackEver’s fully e-commerce business model. That strategic decision worked out for Grecia as the business experienced good growth after launching. An ancillary benefit of Grecia’s business is that it has also helped other young health-focus snack businesses grow by having their products available on her site.
Grecia approached the Pitt Small Business Development Center and met with a consultant who also speaks Spanish. She received business consulting, information on marketing strategies, and a list of upcoming business webinars offer through the Pitt SBDC and other organizations. Grecia also attended business fairs to spread the word of her business, and she plans to explore becoming a supplier with the University of Pittsburgh and other business entities. All of these combined efforts have helped her e-commerce business become a success.
Grecia is working very hard, trying to market her products to the Pittsburgh community at large, as well as begin business in other states. Her planning skills have been tested during the supply chain crisis and she managed to get enough inventory to fulfill her B2B contracts. To her, the most important aspect of her business is that her daughter helps her along the way, creating a new dimension to their relationship and having her be able to see firsthand what owning a business really means. SnackEver is a certified woman-owned business and a Latina-owned business and Grecia wants to contribute to mentoring the new Latinas who arrive in Pittsburgh.