When Food Share of Ventura County in California started up a drive-through distribution program during Covid, it expected to run it for 60 days. Today, the drive-through is still going strong, pumping out tons of food to up to 1,000 cars every Wednesday. The staying power of the drive-through at…
Posts published in “Operations”
Hatch for Hunger, an entrepreneurial supplier of animal protein to food banks, is stepping up to a new huge goal with the announcement last month of a new coalition. With over 102 million protein meals delivered to 120 food banks in 2025, ten-year-old Hatch has proven successful at scaling its…
Vinnie Oakes used to order produce by the case. Now he buys it by the truckload. That is just one of the differences Oakes encountered when he moved from a long career in restaurant and casino hospitality to Reno-based Food Bank of Northern Nevada, where he has served as Director…
GUEST POST FROM SINA ANSARI OF DePAUL UNIVERSITY — On a typical day, food banks match warehouse inventory to partner agency requests and dispatch drivers along a planned route. While agencies submit their requests in advance, final deliveries often differ as real-time inventory fluctuates. At each stop, teams unload to…
The five major food banks of New Jersey recently achieved a major goal in their aim to build up more resilient local food systems in their state. The food banks are now sourcing upwards of 50% of the produce they distribute from local farms, an increase from about 35% previously.…
When the Food Bank of Alaska won a $1.5 million state grant to distribute food to its partner agencies and affiliate food banks, the pressure was on. Awarded in late January, the terms of the grant had to be completed swiftly – by June 30, 2025. The food bank needed…
The devastation that befell MANNA FoodBank, whose Asheville, N.C.-based headquarters and warehouse were completely destroyed during Hurricane Helene, unfolded slowly at first, and then suddenly. As the storm was actively raging during the morning of Friday, Sept. 27, CEO Claire Neal was “obsessively” checking an app that tracked river levels.…
Manna Food Center’s paper-based system for helping people purchase food at local markets is not very sophisticated, but gets points for innovation. Since the pandemic, Silver Spring, Md.-based Manna has been distributing paper vouchers to hundreds of people monthly, who can use them to purchase culturally relevant food at small…
There’s no doubt most food banks are spending more money to purchase food these days, though there are a handful outliers that spend virtually nothing on food. During Covid, almost all food banks began purchasing more food when donated goods were tough to come by, and government funding and donated…