Veggie Vans Roll Into New York City Food Deserts

Refrigerated trucks carrying locally-sourced produce will begin driving through New York City’s food deserts, neighborhoods underserved by farmers markets and traditional grocery stores.  Called Veggie Vans, these trucks will offer local produce to residents at a reasonable price.

Residents sign up to participate in the program through participating community organizations, then have access to $10 bags filled with produce each week.  Residents can use cash, credit, debit, and food stamps to purchase the bags.  Veggie Vans will stop at senior centers, NYCHA buildings, nursing homes, and other locations each week so that all residents can have easy access.

The trucks will begin today in Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood and expand to other communities, including Harlem and Washington Heights.  The program is open to anyone wishing to participate.

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Panera Retires Pay-What-You-Can Meals at St. Louis Cafes

Panera Bread announced this week that it will table its most recent venture in the pay-what-you-can model– a Turkey Chili in a Bread Bowl meal offered at all of its 48 St. Louis-area locations.   Guests at those locations were asked to pay what they could afford for the meal, which has a suggested retail price of $5.89, including tax.

Panera introduced the meal as a way to help the needy in the area, with those who can afford to pay above the retail price subsidizing the cost for those who could afford less.  While the program initially raised awareness for food insecurity and brought in revenues above the suggested retail price due, which Panera founder and chairman Ron Shaich credits to in-store marketing and educational campaigns, the program’s effectiveness began to dwindle, with payments dropping off and awareness dropping.

Shaich said Panera plans to bring back the program next winter in a reworked format in select markets as a seasonal program.  The nonprofit Panera Cares cafes, which operate on a completely pay-what-you-can-model and offer job training programs, will continue to operate as-is.

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