Grub Box: A Win-Win-Win
On June 3rd we launched the Grub Box to the public. The Grub Box is a market basket of fresh fruits and vegetables from our farm (supplemented by outside producers) that is geared at providing quality fresh fruits and vegetables to West Oakland families at low-prices on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. In the first week we’ve been promoting the Grub Box we have already received a lot of enthusiastic response from both the West Oakland community and the East Bay community at-large.
The Grub Box represents our attempt to bring innovation to the CSA model. The primary innovation in the Grub Box is that we’re connecting the West Oakland community to other communities in the East Bay to help solve the local need for fresh fruits and vegetables in West Oakland. Here’s the basic way it works:
Our production cost per Grub Box is about $18.
We sell the “Resident” Grub Box to low-income families and individuals in West Oakland for $12 - a $6 discount off of our production costs.
We sell the “Sponsor” Grub Box to families and individuals who live in the greater East Bay and are of able economic means for $24 - a $6 markup on our production costs.
The $6 markup from the Sponsors enables People’s Grocery to provide a $6 discount to the Residents. Our goal is to recruit one sponsor for every resident so that we break even on our costs. The Grub Box that is provided to either group is identical and of the highest quality and selection. People who subscribe to the Sponsor Grub are receiving a fair and competitive value for their payment - our Grub Box is as good in price, quality, quantity and selection as any CSA available on the Market. We’ve compared our Grub Box to every CSA in the region and our Grub Box stands the test.
However, our Sponsor Grub Box offers something that other CSAs don’t. While other CSAs offer the added-value of being able to support a local farm, our Grub Box offers the the added value of supporting our local farm AS WELL AS supporting a family in West Oakland to get fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. It’s a win-win-win!
By connecting other East Bay communities to the West Oakland community we’re not only creating a unique economic arrangement …. we’re nurturing a powerful opportunity for creating bonds and bridges between communities that have historically been divided along class and racial lines.
And that is what is most compelling about the Grub Box - helping to facilitate long-overdue collaborations between people of different backgrounds to help solve long-standing health and economic problems. This is exactly the kind of innovation that People’s Grocery is trying to engender in the world - transformative change through relationships.
Click here to learn more about the Grub Box.
Click here to request more information about the Grub Box.
Click here to subscribe to the Grub Box.
