It may look like an ordinary supermarket with aisles teeming with fresh produce and staff mingling around the customers, but there's more to this ordinary looking grocery story. Daily Table sells their goods in an incredibly affordable price.
Foodbeast just recently made a report on Daily Table noting that the supermarket's items are priced so low, it seems like they are part of the fast food industry. Former president of Trader Joe's, Doug Rauch, put up the Daily Table.
In fact, Daily Table's mission is made clear on the company's website: "Our healthy meal options will be priced to compete with the fast-food alternatives in the neighbourhood."
The supermarket wasn't built on profit margins or sales growth. The ultimate aim of the business is to "provide healthy meals that are no more expensive than what people are already buying".
In an interview with Boston Globe, Rauch explained further what Daily Table is all about. "We're trying to reach a segment of the population that is hard to reach. It's the working poor who are out buying food, but who can't afford the food they should be eating."
With his background at Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative in 2012, Rauch was able to design a business model that is a non profit but runs like a business that can sustain itself.
Daily Table was able to price their items cheaply because they were able to source surplus food items that are about to expire from farmers, other supermarkets, manufacturers and food distributors. Their prices run from $1.19 for a dozen eggs, $1.99 for a block of cheddar cheese to a less than a dollar for a can of tuna. Clearly, Daily Table isn't built for huge profits.
This business model doesn't just solve the lack of access to affordable and healthy food but it also reduces significant amount of food waste every day.
"We'll be doing all of this by recovering food from supermarkets, growers and food distributors that would otherwise have been wasted. Hunger & wasted food are two problems that can have one solution."
Currently, there's only one store in Boston however with the positive reception of community, there's bound to be more Daily Table soon. Rauch is thinking of opening stores more stores in Boston area and other cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
