“We noticed our funding was dwindling and dwindling, and it came to a point where we were getting no funding from Coca-Cola,” he said. “Here at the NSA, of course we consume Coca-Cola, we sell your product, we display your product, how the heck are you going to cut us out?”
More concerning to Garcia who in 2012 led the New York State Hispanic Chambers of Commerce in a fight on behalf of Coca-Cola and bodega owners against former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed “soda ban” was watching Coca-Cola pull back its support for Hispanic business interests after it announced in October 2020 that $500 million in supply chain spending would go for Black-owned enterprises over five years.