New York City FC have announced that Sol Cacao, a local chocolate company based in the Bronx, has been named the winner of the club's NYCFC & Mastercard City Assist Contest, and will have their company logo featured as NYCFC's kit sleeve sponsor during the 2021 season.
Sol Cacao has emerged as the winner of the promotion that included submissions from 50+ small businesses across NYC in recognition of National Small Business Month. The company becomes the first-ever “Official Small Business of New York City FC."
Mastercard added a surprise aspect to the partnership package by placing the small business’s logo on NYCFC’s first team jersey sleeve for the 2021 season. This makes NYCFC the first MLS club to feature a local small business on the team’s jersey sleeve.
Other assets Sol Cacao will receive include in-stadium and digital placements that provide exposure during NYCFC home games, Field Level LED Ribbon Boards elevating the brand’s advertising value to fans in-stadium, as well as media platforms, high-production video content and marketing consultation, and digital packaging on club channels.
Sol Cacao "dazzled NYCFC and Mastercard with their innovative business plan, perseverance and ability to pivot as COVID swept across New York City and their home in the Bronx, an area that was hit especially hard by the pandemic," the club said in Monday's announcement.
The company is co-owned by the sibling trio of Daniel, Dominic, and Nicholas Maloney, who have a family legacy in chocolate-making that dates back to their grandmother, who was a chocolatier in Trinidad & Tobago.
“The Bronx is home to hip-hop, Major League Baseball and Soccer, and we aim to add chocolate to the list of contributions the Bronx gives to New York City and the world and being named the first-ever Official Small Business Partner of New York City FC is an opportunity to inspire the future generation of chocolate makers,” Daniel Maloney said in Monday's release. “We created Sol Cacao to be a place where anyone eager to learn can be inspired, and only through partnerships like this can we create a truly New York experience that reflects the grit, perseverance, and teamwork that is the fabric of this great city.”
