• by Danielle Oster , August 30, 2024

Pepsi is helping to celebrate local restaurants where regulars congregate. 

For singer Kelly Rowland, that place is Houston This Is It Soul Food: a fourth generation, family-owned local institution known for comforting soul food dishes in a relaxed setting. As part of Rowland’s partnership with Pepsi for its “Local Eats Better With Pepsi” campaign, the restaurant has renamed Rowland’s favorite order in her honor, and is offering the meal -- peppered steak with rice and gravy, green beans, and peach cobbler --  as a special, served with a Pepsi, for $15 at both of its locations, through Sept. 24.

Rowland stars in an ad in which she celebrates the local Houston soul food staple as a longtime favorite, sharing memories of growing up as a regular at the spot -- which she says “smells like home." The digital-focused campaign will run across Pepsi’s social media channels, Pepsi told Marketing Daily.

The ad ends by calling on viewers to nominate their own local restaurants deserving of the spotlight, on the “Pepsi Local Eats” landing page. Those who do will be entered in a sweepstakes in which the grand prize winner will appear in a campaign of their own,  have their favorite go-to dish renamed in their honor and receive complimentary orders of their namesake meal for a limited time.

To drive participation in the sweepstakes, Pepsi is offering consumers who submit their stories by the Oct. 31 deadline a $3 voucher to “make their next meal better with Pepsi.”

“The ‘Local Eats Better With Pepsi’ program is about celebrating the eateries that keep guests coming back for more than just the food but also the community they create," PepsiCo CMO Scott Finlow said in a statement.

Pepsi kicked off its annual summer “Better With Pepsi” installment celebrating the pairing of the beverage with favorite foods back in April, with a campaign celebrating summer grilling starring celebrity chef Bobby Flay.