FFEN collaborates to capture the voice of food shelf managers and shoppers across Minnesota
FFEN is working in collaboration with hunger relief partners to gauge the needs of Minnesota’s food shelves, hearing directly from the managers who oversee them and the shoppers who access food.
FFEN has been partnering for the last year with University of Minnesota Extension, The Food Group, Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families and SuperShelf to create and distribute the 2025 surveys. The Minnesota Food Shelf Shopper Survey will be distributed to all food shelves in Minnesota this April and will be available for shoppers in five different languages. Data collection is nearly complete for the Minnesota Food Shelf Manager Survey with just under 300 sites responding.
“These surveys are a way to highlight opportunities and challenges in today’s food shelves,” said Kate Burggraff, FFEN’s executive director. The surveys, offered every three years, were last distributed in 2022 and captured the voices of 260 food shelf sites and more than 7,000 food shelf shoppers. That survey data went on to inform food shelf services and hunger relief system priorities in Minnesota.
These surveys, and the collaboration, are unique in the country and other states have shown interest in creating similar models.
To truly get a sense of the state of Minnesota’s food shelves, the MN Food Shelf Shopper Survey and the Minnesota Food Shelf Manager Survey depend on the participation of food shelf leaders.
At a local level, the survey results provide leaders with statistics and data they can use to talk to donors, write grants and set priorities. At a statewide level, the results help set funding priorities.
“On the day we saw the data from the survey that identified those top 5 foods (fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, milk, cooking supplies) we instantly changed the way we ordered food,” said Courteney Roessler, Food Programs Supervisor, MN Dept of Children, Youth, and Families – Office of Economic Opportunity. “The survey also said those top 5 foods were only available 47% to 56% of the time and it was startling.”
Now, thanks to the results from the survey, Roessler said dollars at the state level are prioritized towards those top 5 foods.
The survey produces results at a statewide level to assess the system as a whole, but also at the local level. Site specific reports are made available to food shelves where at least 10 food shelf shoppers took the survey.
Zach Roberts is the operations manager for Community Pathways of Steele County in Owatonna. The 2022 survey responses, he said, pointed to the struggle shoppers who worked traditional hours were having accessing the Owatonna food shelf. The food shelf team decided to begin opening Tuesday nights to accommodate those shoppers.
Additionally, Roberts said, the survey results for the site said they had created a warm and welcoming atmosphere their guests valued so it was affirmation they were putting their energy into something important.
At the same time, he said, the survey also showed only 31% of shoppers at that particular site reported that the food looks fresh and appealing. That result prompted staff to do more training with volunteers on how to properly assess food.
“It is important to offer shoppers foods that are fresh and appealing, creating dignity in the process,” he said.
For Angie Cruzen, executive director at Gather & Grow Food Shelf in Waconia and Watertown, the survey results drive the way she talks about the work of the food shelf.
The Minnesota Food Shelf Survey is back for 2025! We need your voice to make sure the results are meaningful.
Respond to the Food Shelf Manager Survey by Friday, March 14th! Emails with the online survey link were sent out the week of Feb 24th to each unique food shelf site. For questions, email info@ffen.org.
Missed the Kick-off Webinar? Learn more about the impact of previous surveys and this year’s timeline: Slide Deck, Webinar Recording.
Click here for the most current information about the survey.
For shoppers, she said, the results help prioritize the purchase of the foods most important to them. For the board of directors, she said, the survey is a way to justify purchasing and equipment needs to ensure they are in alignment with what shoppers need most. For volunteers and staff, Cruzen said, it is confirmation of time well spent when sourcing those most important foods within the community if they do not come in regularly enough from the food bank. Additionally, the survey results confirm their volunteers are making a positive difference in the communities they serve.
For donors, Cruzen said, the survey allows her to back powerful, heartwarming stories about families using the food shelf with actual data and statistics about how often people use the food shelf and why.
“Some of those statistics and percentages are pretty powerful,” she said. “We are no longer a supplement for many families, we provide the majority of the food coming into their home.”
For Cruzen, the food shelf manager survey results have also provided a good way to talk about the need for paid positions at the site.
“If I’m going to spend money on anything but food I have to have a pretty good reason for that, to have some of the stats to back it up helps my board understand where I’m coming from,” she said.
The results of the surveys can also speak to those outside hunger relief agencies. Marna Canterbury is the vice president, Community Health & Partnerships at HealthPartners.
The survey, she said, puts tangible numbers behind discussions of food insecurity as a social determinant of health.
“The data challenges the narrative about people who are food insecure or that food is not essential,” Canterbury said. “We need high-quality data in this space, it changes conversations in healthcare about how to best support patients who are food insecure.”
Specifically, she said, good data challenges assumptions about the kinds of foods that people accessing food shelves want to feed themselves and their families.
When it comes to healthcare, she said, food shelves play a crucial role for people with chronic health conditions and access to good quality, fresh food is vital.
“The survey helps communicate that shoppers are our neighbors,” she said.
