Feeding Folks in Freights

A recent start up called ‘Stockbox Grocers‘ is attempting to close the proverbial food gap that most urban neighborhoods face. By reclaiming shipping containers and retrofitting them into mini-marts full of staple items and fresh produce. This pop-up grocery has the real potential to close the issue of food desertification within urban neighborhoods. As opposed to developing big-box grocery stores these have the potential to spur entrepreneurship, specialty items, and niche markets for practically anything that you can pack into a shipping container.

The beauty of this design is not dissimilar from the beauty of a food truck but without the mobility. Food trucks, however, have one main downfall, they are typically not found in food deprived areas of the city, rather, they circulate around the up-and-coming neighborhoods with lots of foot traffic, night life, and entertainment. What both have in common is they are micro-solutions to a greater issue. Finding where they can meet, and why this intersection can be transformative is an important task.

After watching Dive!, a documentary about the massive amount of waste, and quite obviously dumpster diving I thought; why not merge three pretty radical ideas: minimize food waste, close food gaps, and re-think our relationship to food. I came up with something that looks like Food Not Bombs but functions somewhere between a food truck, in regards to its mobility, and a ‘Stock Box’ in its ability place holder.

Logistics are often difficult when trying to get a chapter of Food Not Bombs off the ground. By having one of these Stock Boxes be available for food storage, divers could have a single location to drop off excess food that they themselves can not eat, but do not want to see go to waste. By having a portion of a ‘box’ be dedicated to food preparation Food Not Bombs could potentially serve more people than it otherwise would while having a facility that could constantly be stocked, and restocked with what otherwise would be food waste.  Food that goes bad, goes to compost, which goes to growing more food, which continues the cycle. Delegating roles and responsibilities would be as easy as: 1.) pickers 2.) storage and prep hand 3.) distribution.

I would love to see something like this prototyped. Please feel free to give and feedback with potential ideas, criticisms, or new ways of approaching such an idea.