The National Grocers Association Foundation’s Technical Assistance Center has partnered with two northeastern grocery chains to create testimonial and informational videos highlighting the growing food-as-medicine movement and the GusNIP Produce Prescription Project.
Daily Table, a non-profit community grocery chain with a mission to make healthy food affordable to all, has been running a PPR project for several months through a partnership with Boston-based non-profit, About Fresh, and has found it to be highly beneficial to its community members.
“This partnership has made a huge impact for our community,” said Michael Malmberg, COO of Daily Table. “We’ve had a lot of customers say they’re able to afford more fresh produce, stretch their budgets a lot further and feel better, eat healthier and that it’s overall an amazing program.”
While Produce Prescription Projects are beneficial to customers, they are also advantageous to the stores operating them. Malmberg spoke to the ease of implementation, point of differentiation and the increase in produce and overall store sales as positive reasons to participate.
“You really stand out in the marketplace with a unique offering,” he said, “and it’s the right thing to do in helping our community afford more fresh produce.”
Stop & Shop, a northeastern grocery chain with more than 400 stores, has also recently partnered with About Fresh to offer the GusNIP PPR project, but sees such food-as-medicine efforts as just beginning.
“This is the first of many programs we’re going to use, and innovate, and try to drive healthier sales and help our customers live healthier lives,” said Director of External Communications Jen Brogan. “We really hope that others in the industry join us in this effort.”
The project was implemented through About Fresh’s new Fresh Connect platform. Through this platform, healthcare teams can “prescribe” food-insecure patients who are either on, or are eligible for, SNAP or Medicaid, and whose health conditions could be improved by eating more fruits and vegetables with a prepaid Fresh Connect debit card that can be used to purchase healthy foods at participating stores. These stores are fully reimbursed by About Fresh for all qualifying purchases redeemed by PPR patients.
The GusNIP Produce Prescription Project offers grocers a chance to positively impact their customers while also providing numerous benefits to the stores who offer them. These programs will only continue to grow as the food-as-medicine movement picks up steam and healthy food offerings and access are prioritized.
To share these stories and engage more retailers in implementing produce prescription projects in their stores and focusing on the future of food-as-medicine, the NGAF TA Center has created two videos – one sharing the ways in which the project serves as an asset both to stores and to their community members and one highlighting the future of food-as-medicine.
To learn more, visit ngaftacenter.org.
