Page 5 - Innovations in Food Equity: Business and Community Together

More recently, Brown Super Stores have introduced a free, private, and quick mental health-screening kiosk in a North Philadelphia store.18 In commenting on this initiative, Commissioner of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services, Arthur Evans, said that he is excited to take away the stigma of mental health, and that “we know we [are] going to reach many more people” with this program.19
Brown Super Stores also foster community involvement in a host of other ways. Some of the stores have community rooms where various community-run organizations can hold meetings, providing the organizations a space of their own.20 The store helps formerly incarcerated individuals to re-enter the job market.21 There is a risk that members of the community who are not able to secure adequate employment after they are released from prison may turn to illegal activity in order to provide for themselves.22 With this initiative, Brown Super Stores not only helps the individual secure employment, but also supports the community as a whole.23 Finally, Brown also created a nonprofit organization called Uplift Solutions to assist grocery stores and other nutritional institutions with moving into food deserts.24 Uplift Solutions works with dozens of companies to come up with specialized plans for success and sustainability and uses many of the aforementioned steps to walk a company through a successful launch and day-to-day business transactions.25
These opportunities coupled with affordable, fresh groceries help make the supermarket an integral staple in the community. The services and items that the store provides further entrench its presence and makes the risk of failure very low.
whole
Whole Foods Market, a mission driven company with a focus on sustainable agriculture and
providing the healthiest food options, has been making strides towards eliminating food
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deserts. Whole Foods was founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas by four local businesspeople
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who decided they wanted to open a supermarket that provided wholesome and healthy food options.27
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As a commitment to improving the lives and opportunities of individuals who are living within the communities they serve, Whole Foods has set up three foundations, all with different objectives.28 The Whole Planet Foundation is focused on the relationships with poor people in developing nations where they source their food.29 The Whole Kids Foundation focuses on supporting families and children by improving children’s nutrition.30 Lastly, launched in 2014, the Whole Foods’ Whole Cities Foundation (“Whole Cities”), is dedicated to bringing fresh, nutritious food and easier access to healthy food education into food deserts.31 This foundation supports the company’s core value to “serve and support local and global communities and promote the health of stakeholders through healthy eating education.”32
Whole Cities was born out of Whole Foods’ business model when they opened a store in Detroit in 2011.33 Whole Foods chose to expand to Detroit because, at the time, the city had been without a grocery store for more than seven years and many community members were struggling with poverty.34 Opening in Detroit gave Whole Foods the opportunity to be a game changer on many levels.35 The store would be an option for employment, would bring revenue to the city, and be a healthy food option.36 Whole Foods aimed to help close the gap between the rich and the poor.37
Whole Foods, typically frequented by white, middle- and upper-income customers, knew that it was targeting a new demographic. To successfully reach its intended market, the company had to “persuade [this] new kind of customer that what it sold—local, organic, and sustainable products—were worth seeking out and paying higher prices for.”38 In order to do so, and before opening the Detroit location, Whole Foods committed to identifying how their store could meet the needs and desires of the people within the community.39 They engaged deep community discussion and were responsive to local cultures, focusing on the increasing access to fresh foods for all income levels.40 For example, classes were provided to educate lower-income customers on how to shop on a budget and what healthier food options there were.41
Out of the model implemented in Detroit, Whole Cities was launched, which now partners with community-based organizations that create food access solutions, builds collaborative partnerships where nutritious food access and healthy eating education come together, and
Unshared boUnty project • 3