As part of the efforts to continue supporting the consolidation of economic reactivation in companies, the Bogota Chamber of Commerce (CCB) opened the second phase of the Economic Reactivation Program for the gastronomy sector, a strategy that seeks to serve companies in the gastronomy sector and its productive chain.

Through the program, entrepreneurs and businesswomen will receive services such as solutions for the digitalization of their businesses, customized training, business rounds, support in the development of innovation routes, and activities to promote entrepreneurship and employability, among others.

To assist companies interested in being part of the program, the CCB has made available the web page www.ccb.org.co/gastronomia, where they can register and immediately begin the registration process for the services of interest to them. Likewise, a series of contents and free tools for the self-management of the participants have been made available on this page. The requirements to be part of this program are: to be a company belonging to the gastronomy sector or to any agricultural sector that provides agri-food raw materials to restaurants. Informal companies may register, but in order to access certain benefits they must first take formalization services.

Juan Carlos González, vice president of Competitiveness of the CCB, stated that "in the version of our program to support the reactivation of the gastronomic sector in 2021, we managed to benefit more than 800 companies with services such as the digitalization of their menus, identification of suppliers, and tailored training and education in the technical and business areas. For this year, in addition to the above services, we will deepen the elements of innovation, entrepreneurship and employability."

The dynamics of the sector

• The gastronomy sector and its productive chain play a fundamental role in economic reactivation, representing 9.6% of the national GDP .

• In the case of Bogota and the Region, the sector is made up of 36,480 companies (8% of the total), whose sales exceed 38.9 billion (3%). These figures correspond to 8% of the total number of companies and in sales to 3% of Bogota and the Region.

• The gastronomy segment comprises 31,552, of which 97.8% are micro-enterprises.

The flagship programs of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce. The CCB's commitment for 2022 is to continue implementing programs to contribute to the strengthening and consolidation of the reactivation of several of the sectors that were strongly affected by the pandemic. Thus, in addition to this new version of the program focused on the gastronomy sector, five (5) new programs will be launched this year that will benefit companies in the real estate, energy efficiency, beauty and wellness, drugstores and health food stores, and pharmaceutical exports segments.

The economic reactivation program for the gastronomy sector is in addition to those that have been implemented since 2021, to support the economic reactivation of the fashion, creative industries, health, tourism, and digital, financial and logistics solutions sectors.