Since the pandemic started, the amount of New Yorkers struggling with food insecurity has grown 36% to 1.5 million, according to City Harvest. As a fresh produce grocer, we are committed to fighting food insecurity in New York.
Over the past five years, we have made major strides in working to feed New York City by making our produce more accessible to everyone.
In 2017, we partnered with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC), a nonprofit that redistributes excess food from restaurants and grocers to food banks, shelters, and social service agencies. We donated 155,000 pounds of excess food after just four years of working with RLC.
Last year, a new program was introduced to allow SNAP recipients to get extra money. SNAP incentive program, Get the Good Stuff, makes it easier for those in our community to buy fresh produce. For every dollar spent using SNAP/EBT on eligible fruits, vegetables and beans, customers with a Pink Card can get a matching dollar in reward points (up to $10 per day) that can be used for the next purchase of eligible produce.
Health Commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, said, “This program makes it easier for New Yorkers to put nutritious food on the table. And, by using federal dollars and digitizing rewards on eligible SNAP purchases, New York City has created a model for the nation.”
We want our customers to be healthy and have access to the nutritious foods we sell at Three Guys. This program not only benefits our community, but it helps our sales too.
Owner, Philip Penta, said “The sales on produce have been great. We’ve seen sales jump on average about 5% since the program started.”
Penta also said that about 30% of our sales come from SNAP, so the program goes very far here.
Earlier in the year, we teamed up with Instacart to make our products even more accessible to everyone. Customers can now use EBT SNAP for same-day delivery on Instacart. Transportation can often be an obstacle for grocery shopping, so this new partnership makes putting food on the table much easier and more convenient for many.
Penta stated that, “Partnering with Instacart to further enable our customers to use their EBT SNAP benefits for their grocery delivery and curbside pickup orders is an important extension of our mission to remain accessible to the community and help fight food insecurity.”
We want to keep making fresh produce available for our customers so as part of our mission, we will soon be accepting UnitedHealthcare OTC benefits cards. Those with OTC+Healthy Food credits can use their prepaid card to buy a wide variety of items, at no cost, such as:
Fruits and vegetables
Meat, poultry and fish
Eggs, cheese, milk and other dairy products
Beans, bread, cereals and pasta
Supplemental drinks like Boost® and Ensure®
And much more
We’re not just a grocery store, we’re a part of the community. We are committed to continually fighting food insecurity and making products like ours more accessible to everyone.