A Factory In Food Apartheid Is Building A Grocery Store, Setting A Promising Precedent

Regions of food apartheid — areas that don’t have grocery stores in a 4-mile radius — are still common in the United States. Approximately 23.5 million Americans, half of which are low-income, live in these areas.

While there have been many solutions folks have come up with to help alleviate food apartheid, one company that’s opening for business in one such region is trying a different approach: building a grocery store right next to their factory.

According to NPR, COOK Medical is planning to construct a grocery store right next to its new plant in Arlington Woods, a food apartheid neighborhood in Indianapolis. This comes after local residents brought up the need for food access, and as many large grocers who were once in the area repeatedly vacated.

The new market, called Indy Fresh, will cost COOK Medical $2.5 million. Once it’s constructed, they plan to pass ownership via a rent-to-own program to a couple of local entrepreneurs that were operating a convenience store in the neighborhood.

COOK Medical president Pete Yonkman told NPR that building a grocery store wasn’t part of their initial factory plans until hearing from the local community. It could help provide food access to 100,000 residents within the area if successful.

What COOK Medical is doing could prove to be promising if the store is able to flourish. Having a grocery store in a community provides access to more nutritious food, increases food choice, and can even help lower food costs, as some research has shown.

Of course, many stores in the area faltered before the factory came around, so more financial resources may be needed to ensure Indy Fresh and COOK Medical are successful.

If they are, though, this could be a prime example of how a local business or factory could help a community by providing access to fresh food. Manufacturing facilities located in food apartheid regions, whether they be urban, suburban, or rural, could be boosting the community around them through a similar model.