A vibrant array of fresh fruits and vegetables greet shoppers at Basic Needs Food Market in Cottage Grove. Swapping potatoes and onions out for colorful, more perishable produce near the front door not only gives shoppers immediate access to a variety of fresh foods, it reduces food waste at the market.
“It’s important the way the food looks when it’s being displayed,” said Opey James Peñaloga, Executive Director of Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County. “Customers will be able to come in and walk around the produce section a lot like when you walk into a typical shopping market.”
Peñaloga and his staff are participating in the Fresh Foods First Pilot offered by Foundation for Essential Needs (FFEN). This pilot is being offered thanks to funding from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
FFEN’s training provides food shelf leaders with new strategies to sort and display fresh produce to make it appealing and get perishables out the door to shoppers. The main goal of the project is to reduce food waste in the hunger relief system while at the same time increasing access to fresh, familiar foods. As part of the pilot, Peñaloga’s site has already seen a 4 percent reduction in food waste.
Additionally, with FFEN’s oversight and recommendations, the food shelf is in the process of a redesign to improve the flow of shoppers through the food shelf and allow for easier receiving of food. The food shelf receives approximately 60,000 pounds of retail food rescue each month, making up 90% of its overall food sourcing and the receiving area is not large enough to accommodate the flow of food and volunteers. Retail food rescue is food that can no longer be sold at grocery stores but is still safe to eat and donated to local food shelves and regional food banks.
FFEN staff made on site recommendations at Basic Needs and called in skilled volunteers for support in executing the plan. Susan Feyereisen is a kitchen and bath designer who volunteers with FFEN and enjoys the challenge of designing spaces that are efficient and welcoming.
At the Basic Needs site, she said, FFEN is recommending a better flow behind the scenes for the receiving, weighing, and sorting of food to reduce what can become a chaotic bottleneck.
On the shopper-facing side of the store, she said the work aims to create an inviting space for shoppers.
“We want it to put them at ease a bit and take off some of the stress of the day,” she said. “(It can be important to have) somebody on the outside who is a little bit more objective and someone who is not as intimate with the space to stand back and help you make those decisions.”
Paul Tice is another FFEN volunteer working on the overhaul of the space. Tice is serving as the project manager, working to get bids for equipment and services and keep the project moving forward.
“I’m also managing expectations as to what can be done,” he said.
For Peñaloga, the project oversight with FFEN has been important as the food shelf has had leadership and staffing changes, he himself is new to the organization. Having FFEN as a partner, he said, helped identify the areas of greatest importance and has kept the project moving. It also allowed him to focus on the daily work of the food market.
“FFEN provided a consistent expertise on the efficiencies in the food market,” he said.
Peñaloga expects much of the reorganization project, which includes moving refrigerators, freezers, and a scale, to be complete in the next month. Then, with the help of FFEN, he wants to continue to engage with shoppers and hear their thoughts about the new space.
“What I’ve appreciated most coming into this role has been FFENs dedication to the shopper experience,” Peñaloga said. “I care about food recovery, efficiency and a safe workspace and I also really care about the shopper experience.”
