Photo Courtesy of National Black Guide/Twitter
A Chicago father and daughter’s frozen pudding business moved from the streets to local grocery stores to Walgreens’ shelves. Walgreens’ web series Shelf Life told their story in their latest episode.
Lorenzo and Genesis Bencivenga, Lorenzo’s Frozen Pudding founders, began their business selling their pudding on South Side Chicago streets in 2011. Profit and financial mobility for the family was the main reason Lorenzo—an Army veteran, cook, and truck driver—started the business.
Through word-of-mouth, their pudding business boomed, and the demand for their pudding increased. Success led their products to see the shelves of local grocery stores. However, Lorenzo and Genesis couldn’t keep up with the high demand and had to restart their business three times.
“We weren’t selling on the street anymore because we were in about 50-55 stores in Chicago and surrounding suburbs between 2015 to 2017,” Genesis told Walgreens. “But we couldn’t keep up with demand again. I knew we had a great product people wanted to buy, but we didn’t have the back-end infrastructure for manufacturing and distribution that we needed, so I had to shut it down again.”
Lorenzo’s retirement in 2015 named Genesis the company’s trusted advisor. In 2020, Genesis decided to try again and sought help with The Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), an organization dedicated to helping women- and minority-owned businesses thrive.
“Genesis came to us seeking advice on how to restart her business, and the fact that she chose to do that during the height of the COVID pandemic is a real testament to her tenacity and desire to succeed,” Cynthia Johnson, WBDC’s director of established business services recalled.
“I was the first advisor she worked with, and I recommended that she start by conducting additional market research, developing pricing strategies and creating a business plan to determine how to reenter the market and sustain profitable growth,” Johnson said. “I also provided her with information about the Top Shelf program, which I felt would benefit her tremendously.”
WBDC’s Top Shelf: High VOlume Growth Insights program lasts eight weeks and concentrates on consumer goods companies, so Lorenzo’s Frozen Pudding fits perfectly into the program. The program worked with the businesses to prepare them to sell to large retailers. It costs nothing to join the program since the funds come from sponsors like Walgreens.
Genesis graduated from the program in 2020 and, in 2021, found out her products would be on Walgreens shelves.
“Thank you so much, Walgreens,” she said. “I can’t wait to see how far we go!”
Three flavors are currently being sold: Real Banana, Schnooka’s Strawberry and Hawaiian Pineapple.