The high cost of food has become a common topic of conversation across the country over the past year or so.
Almost everyone can easily chime in on the topic with lived experience around the rapid increase in the price of household food staples. For individuals, the impact is directly felt.
For organizations like Foodworks - an entirely free, local grocery store operated by Groundworks Collaborative - the effect of the inflation of food costs imposes a compounding negative effect. At a time when Foodworks is experiencing record utilization, it is also experiencing greatly increased per-unit costs to keep the shelves stocked.
Foodworks is designed as a neighborhood grocery store where everything is available at no cost and shoppers can access what they need and avoid taking items they don't want or won't use, which can sometimes be the case with food shelves or emergency food distribution sites.