Food Banks post another record fresh Produce year

Okay, this “TOP TEN” is not as popular as Letterman’s (a fellow Hoosier), but I wanted to try something a little different this year (new fiscal year started July 1) thinking that as we share this type of data with all of you, it may serve as valuable tools for you to use when seeking the best food bank deals for our fresh produce program. Listed below are the top ten produce items moved last month (July). They account for 95% of our total and represent over 9-million pounds of produce or 237 truckloads worth of great nutritious food.

Naturally, potatoes top our list and are now being shipped almost entirely in consumer packed bags like 10# and 5# bags. Some member still like the 50# sacks, but that list is growing smaller and smaller for obvious reasons. Some food banks still supply food to agencies that have feeding sites, so it is there that bulk bags are useful to keep costs as low as possible, but for many members, 50# sacks are just too heavy for the agencies to distribute as the bulk of our food is distributed through food pantries.

I am pleased to report that we have been given an increase in produce program budgeting for this new fiscal year (started July 1). Our goal is to move as much produce as possible using the limited funds that are entrusted to us for this program/purpose.

I hope you all find this list useful as you continue to offer us best pricing on a variety of produce items. Please review how you are seeking pricing and offer some out of the box thinking this year. I would like to offer LTL’s (less than truckload qantities) this year to the network so smaller sized members can take advantage of the produce program as well. We tested this idea last year with some good results.

As always, let me know how else we can assist you so you can continue assisting us. I am always available to all of you, our partners in our mission to end hunger. Thank you all for your service to our cause. Last year, our members distributed 115,900,000 pounds of fresh produce through the national office program. Below is the list of most popular items that we shipped in July of this year...

Ranked #1 - Potatoes at 33% of the total
Ranked #2 - Assorted combo produce loads (three or more items) 25%
Ranked #3- Watermelons at 16%
Ranked #4 - Sweet Corn 9%
Ranked #5 - Green Cabbage 4%
To finish out the list all in single digit percentages were onions, apples, bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes listed here respectively.

Last year: over 27 food banks each received over 1-million pounds of fresh produce. The program spend was just over $10M, 75% used for product procurement, 25% used for transportation. Over 200 member food banks received fresh produce through the program.

Please contact Rick Bella at 312.641.6507 or email rbella@secondharvest.org Join this new growing market!