Atlanta small – As Atlanta prepares to host eight FIFA World Cup matches from June 15 through July 15, local owners are scrambling to turn a once-a-generation crowd into steady income. From grant-funded storefront upgrades to mobile food carts and cash-pay clinic services aim
Two weeks before the World Cup was supposed to arrive at Cyrei Daniel’s block, her street still looked like any other day. No banners. No flags. Nothing to suggest eight FIFA World Cup matches would begin pulling visitors through Atlanta this summer.
Daniel was ready anyway. She runs Sweet Me Good on Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn corridor. one block from the King Center on the streetcar line that goes straight to downtown. A million people visit the King Center every year. Still. she spent months trying to get the city’s attention—first for her bakery. and then for the entire block—after Atlanta announced it would host eight matches.
She applied for grants to make improvements to her storefront and marketing ahead of the tournament and received two. She also showed up to city council meetings to press for how Atlanta planned to support small businesses during the games.
For economists and city officials, the World Cup is a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity for the entire country. But for owners like Daniel, the practical question isn’t whether money is coming. It’s whether any of it reaches the ground where their neighborhoods actually live.
Atlanta is one of 16 host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with eight matches running from June 15 through July 15. The Metro Atlanta Chamber estimates 65,000 spectators per match, with at least 520,000 people expected across all eight games.
Yet small-business operators are moving with the urgency of people who’ve seen what happens when big-event planning stops at the curb.
One owner is building a business model that’s designed specifically for visitors who may not have American insurance. Ona Utuama, a physician and founder of CollabMD Direct Primary Care, started planning a year ago. Her eyewear brand. Tribal Eyes. is carried in Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. and she designed flag-printed sunglasses representing each country competing in the tournament—planning to vend at a brand activation near Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the first qualifier round. June 15 through June 27.
Between the eyewear and the clinic, Utuama is projecting $50,000 to $90,000 in revenue from the tournament. The clinic’s World Cup page will offer language selection, IV hydration services, and same-day appointment availability throughout the summer.
The clinic is designed as an on-call option for hotel guests who have forgotten their medications or need care for minor medical issues. without having to navigate the American healthcare system. Utuama is distributing QR codes through hotels. Airbnbs. taxi drivers. and Uber hosts. directing visitors to same-day appointments and telemedicine options in multiple languages.
She approached the Marriott Marquis, which told her it loves the idea and will follow up. She also submitted a capability statement to Hartsfield-Jackson airport, which has been exploring a potential on-site clinic.
Across the city, other operators are treating the World Cup like a global marketing window that needs local execution.
Brian Lee started planning for the World Cup in 2024. His company, Scratch Food Group, makes plant-based food products sold at Walmart. Lee saw the tournament as a chance to introduce his brand to a global audience and hit a revenue goal of $30,000 during the tournament.
He attended city meetings, then built his own strategy rather than wait for a city plan for small businesses. By spring. he had secured a spot at a corporate FIFA partner’s watch party. lined up pop-ups with Atlanta Breakfast Club and the Belt Hub at Ponce City Market. and won a Beltline Business Ventures grant to launch a mobile Scratch Cafe cart.
To prepare, he invested $15,000 in preparation—mobile carts, a commercial doughnut machine, mobile proofers, smallwares, and access to a new commercial kitchen—and brought on additional staff.
Lee frames the effort as both a summer play and a long-term bet. The Scratch Cafe cart concept he’s launching through the Beltline Business Ventures grant isn’t only for the World Cup. He wants it to operate at Atlanta Breakfast Club, the Belt Hub, and other venues after the tournament ends.
“I wish someone had told me to stop waiting on the city to figure out the World Cup plan for small businesses,” Lee told Business Insider. “I should have just plowed ahead.”
Lee is also candid about the risk. When asked if zero benefit from the whole thing would surprise him, he didn’t hesitate. “It wouldn’t surprise me,” he said. “There are so many unknown variables.”
In East Point, Vanetta Roy is making sure the World Cup message is stitched into the business itself.
Seven minutes from the airport, Roy runs Eat My Biscuits and has already been redesigning the details. She launched World Cup merchandise. redesigned her staff uniforms—clean white shirts and bow ties—with everyone “crisp.” She added a limited-edition lobster biscuit called the “Gold Getter” to the menu for the summer.
Roy isn’t betting on a sudden discovery by foot traffic alone. She’s focused on being found by international visitors—optimizing her Google Business Profile so Eat My Biscuits shows up when tourists search for food near the airport corridor.
If the World Cup doesn’t deliver the revenue boost she’s hoping for, Roy says she won’t collapse under the disappointment. “Business as usual,” she said. In the meantime, the work is aimed at keeping the business visible during the influx.
Her stance is shaped by what many small businesses in Atlanta were already facing before the World Cup planning began.
According to a September 2025 CBS News Atlanta report. Roy lost approximately $200. 000 compared to the prior year after East Point began a beautification project in February that placed a fence directly in front of her restaurant. cutting off street visibility. She laid off staff, took on multiple roles herself to keep the business open, and her rent is behind.
That history sits uneasily beside the promise of the tournament.
Atlanta last hosted an event of this scale in 1996. Lee, who has closely tracked World Cup preparations, said small businesses largely missed the financial wave from the Olympics. He also pointed to Mayor Dickens, who has publicly vowed that the World Cup will be different.
The facts on the ground—from grant-funded storefront changes to mobile carts. from QR-code medical access to new uniforms and menu items—show how owners are trying to turn visitor attention into cash. But they also show why the worry persists: for many. they don’t have the luxury of waiting for a citywide promise to become everyday reality.
For Cyrei Daniel, the World Cup arrives on a street where the signs still haven’t appeared. For Ona Utuama, it becomes a clinic service line and a language-forward appointment page. For Brian Lee, it becomes a cart, a kitchen, and partnerships built before anyone could hand him a plan. For Vanetta Roy. it becomes merchandise. a single named biscuit. and a business profile optimized for searches near the airport corridor.
In each case, the summer goal is the same. Not just attention. Not just buzz. A revenue bump that finally reaches the businesses that have been holding the neighborhoods together long before the stadium lights.
Atlanta World Cup 2026 FIFA World Cup small business local economy grants storefront marketing mobile food cart Hartsfield-Jackson Mercedes-Benz Stadium CollabMD Direct Primary Care Eat My Biscuits Sweet Me Good Tribal Eyes Scratch Food Group
So basically they’re just begging for grants to sell snacks during the World Cup. Cool.
I don’t get why there weren’t banners yet lol. If they knew eight matches were coming they should’ve decorated the block from day one. But also, good for the small businesses trying to get that revenue I guess.
City council meetings always take forever, so of course the street looks normal. But wait, this was “supposed to arrive” two weeks ago? Like did the World Cup get delayed or something? Sounds like somebody dropped the ball.
World Cup revenue sounds nice but I swear Atlanta gets all hyped and then the big companies show up and take it anyway. Like the article says grants, storefront upgrades, mobile carts, cash-pay clinic services… okay, but where’s the affordable stuff for locals? I’m just saying, if it’s one million people at the King Center every year, why they acting like this is brand new traffic? Feels like they already had customers and still waiting on the city to notice.