San Francisco Small Business In Advanced Talks For Walmart Deal

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A deal with Walmart could pave the way to a successful future for a small business.

Lauren Chew recently pitched vegan protein cookies from her San Francisco small business Love + Chew at Walmart's Open Call event. She's one of just 167 business owners and entrepreneurs from across the country who moved a step closer to selling their U.S.-made products on Walmart store shelves.

More than 900 small businesses from across the country pitched their products made, grown, or assembled in the U.S.

Among the entrepreneurs continuing conversations to land their products on store shelves are 17 from California.

All businesses that took part in Open Call are eligible to sell their shelf-stable products on Walmart’s various online platforms Walmart.com, Walmart Marketplace or Samsclub.com.

"Open Call supports Walmart’s overall commitment to U.S Manufacturing and small businesses. In March, Walmart announced an additional spend of $350 billion on items made, grown or assembled in the U.S. over the next ten years," said Laura Phillips, a senior vice president at Walmart. “We also announced our American Lighthouses concept, which strives to accelerate progress on this commitment.

Walmart’s Lighthouses are a plan to unite key stakeholders in specific regions of the country to identify and overcome top-down barriers to U.S. production. They will focus on these categories: textiles; metals and motors; food processing; plastics; pharmaceutical and medical supplies.

The company estimates its commitment will support the creation of more than 750,000 new American jobs and will help avoid 100 million metric tons of CO2 emissions by sourcing products closer to customers.

Walmart employs more than 99,000 associates in California.

In 2020, the company gave $2.8 billion in cash bonuses to employees for working during the pandemic.