Food rescue shop finding success at new location

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This article was published 04/06/2022 (1561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Food Rescue Grocery Store is finding success at its new expanded location on Rosser Avenue in the heart of downtown.

The new location at 719 Rosser Ave. opened on May 13. The Food Rescue Grocery Store had been looking for a long-term home since it initially opened at the Blue Door Project at the end of December and was able to secure a new home in early April.

“I’m just grateful on so many levels,” store manager Ross Robinson said. “Grateful that we’re able to do this. Grateful for [Brandon Food Council chair] Olivia Boyce for coming up with the idea. Grateful for our volunteers who make this work … It’s very gratifying.”

The Food Rescue Grocery Store is a joint project between the Brandon Food Council, the John Howard Society and Prairie Oasis Senior Centre. The shop sells a variety of perishable and non-perishable food items that are around their best-before date and would typically end up in a landfill. The project has recovered 60,000 pounds of food to date.

Those who visit the store are greeted by a volunteer at the front door who explains how the store works and what products are available. Customers can then make their way through the shop and down to the freezers before checking out at a till.

Brandon’s Food Rescue Store crew has been “blown away” by the support from the community and the engagement of those visiting the store each week, he said.

Since launching the new location the store has been averaging about one transaction every two minutes it is open, said food rescue extraordinaire Ted Dzogan.

The store has seen large crowds visit each day and people actively working to share positive information about the store via social media and word-of-mouth.

“The flip side of that is the desperation,” Robinson said. “People have such a great need that they need what we are doing. They are lining up and they are lining up early because they want to get the deals that we have.”

These needs are expected to remain steady, Dzogan said, but he believes these demands would be present in the community even without the influence of rising food inflation.

“There are two parts to food insecurity — one is you didn’t eat today and that is a real problem, but the other part is the anxiety,” Dzogan said. “Regardless of your income or your situation, you’re going to access the anxiety you feel about the future and this store is one of the ways that we can combat or address that anxiety because you know there is something.”

Some products at the store are “virtually unlimited,” Dzogan said, such as potato wedges or fries. People can purchase what they need knowing more will be available next time they visit.

The store is open from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

A key aspect of the store is centred on food recovery and keeping products out of landfills and getting them in people’s cupboards.

“If there really wasn’t food we would not have a store,” Dzogan said. “The food exists … we’re not asking people to create more of it.”

All layers of the supply chain from the producers at the farm to retail store owners understand the value of food, Robinson said, but at times products can go to waste due to best before dates or other factors.

No one likes when products are destroyed, he said, and people are looking for ways to save food and expedite items to those in need.

The store offers a solution for these hurdles, while also helping tackle food insecurity in the community.

“We’re just trying to balance it out,” Dzogan said.

Heley Walters now volunteers at Brandon’s Food Rescue Grocery Store after first visiting the shop as a customer.

She began accessing the store in January after catching COVID-19. She learned about it through social media and soon found significant savings on food costs by visiting the store each week.

The virus kept Walters feeling ill for many months and the store has been an amazing support in her life. She described it as fostering a community that feels like family.

“It’s given me a reason to volunteer and get out and feel like I have a life again,” Walters said.

Each purchase helps people save money, she added, while also ensuring funds raised go directly back into the Brandon community.

“It’s a win-win. This is a beautiful place,” Walters said. “I’m just so very thankful to have such awesome people.”

Customer Linda de Jong learned about the shop through social media. She has visited the store about three times since first learning about it.

“I think we’re all struggling and it all helps no matter where we are in life. Everyone is struggling during COVID,” she said.

Each visit offers a new experience as the selection of available products is always changing.

“It’s a really good, convenient store to have for the city of Brandon, to help out a lot of people,” de Jong said. “That really makes me happy because we don’t really realize how many people are struggling. It’s a good thing for the community.”

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