The city of Atlanta is teaming up with startup Goodr to tackle food insecurity in Fulton County.
Mayor Andre Dickens, Goodr founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe-Houston, and city officials have joined forces to provide relief to the unhoused and Atlantans living in food deserts. The initiative was commemorated with the opening of the company’s newest Goodr Grocery Store on Monday, Dec. 3.
Goodr is a social impact-driven company based in Atlanta. It is primarily focused on addressing food insecurity by tackling food waste. The company is not a traditional grocery store but a food recovery organization that partners with businesses, such as restaurants and grocers, to redistribute excess food to those in need. Goodr operates a mobile app that helps businesses donate surplus food to local communities, especially those in food deserts.
After learning in 2017 that 72 billion pounds of food goes to waste in the U.S. while 50 million people struggle with hunger, Jasmine Crowe, a serial entrepreneur, felt compelled to do something.
So with donated spaghetti noodles and hamburger meat and lots of grocery coupons, in 2013 Crowe started feeding the hungry every Sunday out of her own kitchen in her one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta.
Ultimately Crowe grew the business from feeding 500 people Crowe turned her passion to help into a business — Goodr, a food waste management company that connects restaurants with food surplus to non-profit organizations that can use the food.
Goodr also runs a grocery store model, but it’s designed to be a “pay what you can” model, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their financial situation, can access fresh, healthy food. Their approach aims to reduce food waste while feeding people in need.
The grocery store isn’t typically a conventional retail space, and their activities focus more on redistribution efforts and community-based support, offering nutritious food to low-income individuals at affordable rates or for free.
Building the business wasn’t easy — for one thing, investors doubted her company would succeed. But by 2018, Goodr was valued at $7 million, according to PitchBook, and now, the company is valued at $12 million, Goodr tells CNBC Make It. To date, Crowe has successfully raised over $2.7 million from investors, the company said.
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