Protein sourcer HATCH for Hunger announced on Thursday that it would invest $750,000 in Fresh Connect Central as a way to get more meat protein into the charitable food system.
The investment will bring new capabilities to Fresh Connect Central’s protein repackaging room, such as the ability to grind and cut meat, and bag it into smaller portion sizes. “We were really intentional with this because we wanted to create new capabilities exclusively for the network,” said Danny Leckie, CEO for HATCH, who made the announcement during Fresh Connect Central’s Power of Partnerships conference last week in Indianapolis.
Protein is one of the most requested food items in the charitable food system, and HATCH exists solely to make more of it available for food banks and pantries to distribute. The non-profit started in 2015 with eggs, and has since expanded to include turkey, beef, pork, and most recently, natural shredded cheese. It is targeting a “protein gap” that it estimates will require up to three billion protein-rich meals annually to close.
Last year, HATCH delivered more than 102 million servings of protein worth more than $70 million across the country, working through more than 120 food banks and 30 large pantries. While that’s considerably short of closing the annual gap, the amount is significant. By way of comparison, Tyson Foods, a major supplier of protein, has donated 100 million pounds of protein valued at $126 million over a period of three years, according to Feeding America.
At the end of May, HATCH announced an initiative to raise $40 million in public and private funds to go toward improving the supply chain infrastructure needed to move protein from farms to food banks, including improvements in processing, packaging and refrigerating. On Thursday, Leckie said HATCH had already raised $38 million from 18 partners.
Fresh Connect Central, the unit of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana that supplies wholesale food to other food banks, has long been a partner of HATCH’s. Fresh Connect Central started around the same time as HATCH (2017) and both entities are located in Indiana. Much like HATCH, Fresh Connect Central is focused on getting low-cost, high-quality food to food banks. This year, it will distribute more than 80 million pounds of food to food banks, said Joe Slater, Chief Operations Officer, also speaking at the Power of Partnerships conference last week..
In their closing remarks from the stage, Leckie and Slater sweetened the deal for food banks. Noting that it would take some time to purchase and install the new equipment for the protein repack room, Slater said he encouraged Leckie to consider ways to respond to the current urgent need.
Leckie responded with a $100,000 gift to be used by food banks to bring down the freight cost of moving food. “If you’re taking protein out of our Indianapolis distribution center, even if it’s one pallet on a truck of other stuff, we’re going to support you so you can start to get protein out in your communities and drive the cost down,” Slater said. – C.C.
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