FreshDirect is highlighting several Black-owned vendors during February for Black History Month, including some that are SFA member companies.
“We’ve held different activations for Black History Month over the years but started a concentrated effort to promote our Black-owned vendors in the last three years,” a spokesperson for the online grocer told SFA News Daily. “Our efforts have grown every year as we increase our supplier diversity.”
FreshDirect, a division of Ahold Delhaize, said it plans to spotlight Black-owned vendors on the company’s website and social media channels, as well as via email to customers.
“While recognizing the continued contributions of the Black community to the [New York, New Jersey, Connecticut] tri-state area’s food culture is a year-round celebration at FreshDirect, Black History Month is a special moment in time to share and amplify those significant contributions and honor the flavors and ingredients indigenous to various regions in Africa,” FreshDirect said in a statement.
Among the Black-owned businesses that FreshDirect plans to showcase:
• Yolélé—FreshDirect offers this company’s snack chips and products made with its flagship ingredient, fonio, a gluten-free ancient African grain with a nutty, earthy flavor. Fonio can be prepared like couscous and used in a variety of applications. The SFA member company seeks to create economic opportunity for small farming communities, support regenerative food systems and promote biodiversity. It takes its name from a term for exuberance used in Western and Central Africa.
• Egunsi Foods—This New York-based company offers ready-to-heat, grab-and-go soups, sauces, and entrées that celebrate West African flavors and ingredients. Its products are made from whole, fresh ingredients, with natural preservatives and no artificial flavors or added colors. They are gluten- and dairy-free. A FreshDirect vendor since 2017, Egunsi Foods uses locally-sourced ingredients wherever possible, and also works with African farms to source spices and grains.
• Stori Coffee—FreshDirect partnered with Stori Coffee in March of 2021 to launch its first retail product: a Rwanda single-origin Founders Series whole bean coffee. The online grocer now carries multiple products, including K-cups and ready-to-drink canned coffee. The founders of Stori Coffee have spent more than 20 years building relationships with the women of Rwanda's Hingakawa co-op in order to bring their award-winning, single-origin specialty coffee to the world.
• Partake—Founded in 2016 by Denise Woodard, CEO, when her daughter was diagnosed with multiple food allergies, Partake seeks to offer a selection of great-tasting, allergy-friendly foods. All offerings are certified gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, and produced without the top nine allergens (wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, soy, fish, sesame, and shellfish). In 2020, Woodard founded Black Futures in Food & Beverage, an annual fellowship program that mentors Historically Black College and University students and helps them secure internships and jobs at the program’s end.
Zach & Zoë Sweet Bee Farm—Another SFA member, Zach & Zoë Sweet Bee Farm started after the founders, Kam and Summer Johnson, were seeking an allergy treatment for their son, Zach (they also have a daughter, Zoë). The company’s raw honey products, infused with superfoods such as matcha, ginger, and beetroot, have been featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things list, Shark Tank, and the Food Network. The company also has a location in New York’s Chelsea Market.
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Image: FreshDirect