“At Daily Table we believe that delicious, wholesome and affordable food should be available to all. We are on a mission to help communities make great choices around food by making it easy for them to choose tasty, healthy, convenient and truly affordable meals and groceries. And we do this in a respectful manner that honors our customer, engendering dignity.”- Mission Statement, Daily Table

Over the past year I have written several articles on green initiatives in the supermarket industry. More companies have started donating or creating waste reduction programs and attention has been brought to a serious issue. It is estimated that 80 billion pounds of food is wasted per year, but at the same time, 48.8 million Americans live in food insecure households. On June 4, 2015, Doug Rouch a former executive from Trader Joe’s and Rudy Rubenis a past executive from Whole Foods, came up with a solution to these problems. He opened a not-for-profit grocery store called Daily Table in Dorchester, MA, a diverse community near Boston.

The store sells products donated by grocery stores, food suppliers, manufacturers, restaurants, and growers that is soon to go bad, or that they would not sell and normally throw away.  These items include dairy, produce, bread, grab-and-go meals, and other normal grocery items. The store will accept food stamps, but some examples of just how low prices items will be include a dozen eggs for $0.99 and a pound of bananas at just $0.29. What is unique about this store is that it is not-for-profit and for members only, although membership is free. The company states that the reason it is members only is to ensure that the people in the community are the first served and are the first to know of new shipments or sales. Outside of just providing low cost food for a diverse community, the store also encourages anyone to donate money or food, or volunteer, and will create 25 positions for employees in the community.

While there is only one Daily Table now, the founders are hoping to open many more in the coming year. For more information or to donate, visit www.dailytable.org.