Fresh Approach Mobile Farmers’ Market
NOVEMBER 2019 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM 41
folks that attend to use at the mobile or traditional markets
to start shopping for more fresh produce and to hopefully
try something that may be new for their family without
spending their minimal food dollars,” she said
In addition to the Veggie Rx classes, Fresh Approach uses
customer surveys as a way to learn more about the needs
and desires of their customers. “Through our surveys we can
learn about not just the individual shopper but their whole
household,” said deTar. From the surveys, Fresh Approach
has learned that more than forty percent of their customers
and their families have diet-related diseases, such as diabetes
or high blood pressure, and that nearly twenty percent
struggle with food insecurity. Knowing this data helps the
organization refine their programs to better meet the needs
of the communities they serve.
Since the start of the Mobile Farmer’s Market in 2013,
the biggest challenge remains the same—meeting demand
versus the organization’s capacity. “We stuff the
trucks with as much produce that could possibly
fit on each truck,” deTar said. “But so many
people are coming to the trucks that by the end
of the day, on a few of the stops, there is very
little left.” This is not the optimal experience
Fresh Approach wants for all customers, deTar
went on to say, so the organization’s future plans
are set on expanding the reach of traditional and
mobile markets as well as increasing the number
of people participating in the matching program.
“There is potential to add a third truck in the
next few years,” she said. “But right now we are
really trying to deepen the services provided in
the communities where we are already servicing
to further increase the impacts for those residences.”
The impact of Fresh Approach’s services is most evident on
an individual level, according to deTar. “We hear the stories
from our participants about how having high-quality produce
available in their community has changed their lives, how it has
helped them control their diet-related diseases or given them
a reliable way to access health food, which was not something
that they could find in their community before.”
One of the greatest rewards for deTar and the team at Fresh
Approach is to hear these individual-level stories and to know
their customers are sharing their positive experience with their
neighbors. “Seeing the movement building where more and
more folks are coming to shop because people that participate
in our program encourage others to come is the most
rewarding,” exclaimed deTar.
Fresh Approach VeggieRx Cooking Nutrition Class