The Ecology Action Centre, a Halifax-based non-profit organization, has partnered with its home city to create a mobile grocery store service. The service, entitled the “Mobile Market Project,” will deliver fresh food into six “food deserts”—areas with little access to grocery stores—in the region.
The 21-week pilot program will provide residents in the communities of Spryfield, Fairview, North Preston, East Preston, Halifax north and Dartmouth north with access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Once a week, a Halifax Transit bus furnished by the city will visit each community, spending approximately 90 minutes at each destination to sell affordable food items.
Aimme Carson, community food coordinator with the Ecology Action Centre, notes that the mobile food bus approach has been set up in other Ontario cities, including Toronto and Ottawa. Key lessons from those markets, she says, include the importance of community engagement, establishing a viable business model, and procuring food.
For example, Toronto’s “Mobile Good Food Program” ran weekly at eight food deserts in the city. During the one-year pilot program, approximately 20 customers attended each site weekly, purchasing between $6-7 worth of food. Average monthly sales at the sites ranged from $188 to $888, causing the number of sites to become reduced partway through the project because of low participation and sales.
The Mobile Market Project is expected to debut in late October. Currently, representatives from the program are in discussion with both corporate grocery retailers and local food providers, discussing from where the food will be sourced. The project’s goal is to sell food at prices equal to those of discount grocery stores.
