DiBella’s Subs wins $50,000 grand prize

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Local sub shop DiBella’s has won a $50,000 prize thanks in part to the Miss Vickie’s chip brand Partnerchip program.

AJ Shear, of the family run shop, competed against other small business restaurants around the county to become the grand prize winner.

The goal of the Partnerchip program, launched in May 2019, is to help small and mid-sized food based businesses in addressing their biggest business challenges.

Shear competed against other local food businesses around the country including:

• Nate Gilbert, Deli Delicious, a premium deli sandwich shop with locations around California (California)
• AJ Shear, DiBella’s, a family-run sub shop that was started in Rochester, NY (Great Lakes)
• Mike Arthur, Wingo’s, a DC-based wings shop (Mid-Atlantic)
• Frank Lara, Chompie’s, a family-run New York Style Deli and bagel bakery (Mountain)
• Kelly Bennett, Ruthie’s Food Truck, a Dallas-based food truck operation serving grilled cheese sandwiches (South)

Miss Vickie’s® named AJ Shear of DiBella’s Subs as the grand prize winner of the brand’s PartnerChip program, earning the small business a $50,000 prize.

The finalists were hosted at a PepsiCo Foodservice Small Business Leader Summit at the Frito-Lay headquarters in early October of 2019. There they learned and engaged in new digital and social practices lead by PepsiCo executives and partners like Google.

After attending the two-day summit, finalists prepared and launched their own digital media plans that were judged by a panel who chose the most compelling.

DiBella’s itself started as a small family-run business nearly a century ago with the importance of quality and consistency in mind. Today, the business has grown to include 46 stores in six states all while continuing to provide exceptional service and great food to customers.

“Challenges in the restaurant industry are universal,” said AJ Shear, director of marketing for DiBella’s. “What’s unique is that PepsiCo Foodservice and Miss Vickie’s are putting an emphasis on getting us the tools and resources to deal with those challenges. Our learnings from the summit and the $50,000 award will go a long way to help us continue to build our business.”

For more information about this program click here.