In Dorchester, Massachusetts, on June 4, Daily Table welcomed curious and eager customers to its first not-for-profit community food market. It’s a store with a mission, designed to reach individuals who struggle to eat well, many of whom also face health issues that stem from a poor diet. The brainchild of the former President of Trader Joe’s, Doug Rauch, Daily Table sells fresh produce and groceries as well as prepared meals that are cooked on-site in a professional kitchen every day for customers to simply grab and go. In short, it is a health care initiative, disguised as a grocery store.

A unique sourcing strategy also distinguishes Daily Table from the average neighborhood food market. While one in six Americans goes hungry every day, it is senseless that 40% of the food produced in this country ends up in dumpsters behind supermarkets, tilled back into the soil at farms, and in wastebaskets in our homes. Daily Table relies on manufacturers, growers and supermarkets to donate their perfectly edible, excess food as a primary source of its food supply or to provide us with special buying opportunities. In this way, Daily Table can keep its wholesome groceries and prepared meals priced so low that they are comparable to traditional fast food alternatives in the neighborhood.

Daily Table is a not-for-profit model that simultaneously addresses food insecurity, nutritional health, and wasted food. And the fact that it does this in a respectful manner that honors the customer is its recipe for success. Beyond our pilot location in Dorchester, plans are to expand first to other sites in Boston and then to more cities in the US.