St. John’s Bread & Life in Brooklyn, NY, has long been a leader in giving clients an easy, de-stigmatized way to digitally browse and select pantry goods.
The agency was a trend-setter as far back as 2000, when it made desktop computers available so clients could place their grocery orders on site at the pantry and immediately pick them up. Two years ago, when it returned to client choice after the pandemic, the agency upped its game even further, installing oversized, easy-to-navigate kiosks that let clients place orders online in multiple languages.
On their first day of operation on July 3, 2023, the kiosks supplied nearly 18,000 meals – and they have been a hit ever since. Every week, St. John’s Bread & Life serves about 9,000 people through its digital choice pantry, mobile soup kitchen, pre-packaged breakfast and lunch meals, and other food emergency programs.
“We’re really very mindful that the people coming to us are coming from different walks of life, and that we want to provide the most dignified opportunities for them,” said Sister Caroline Tweedy, Executive Director.
In 2000, the agency’s pioneering use of desktop computers to support digital choice took inspiration from software used in liquor-selling businesses. A software company called Nexus helped to adjust the program’s earliest version to meet the needs of pantry clients.
Post-pandemic, the desktop computers were phased out and replaced with ten kiosks – nine of which are used by guests to log their pantry requests and another reserved for training purposes. Each kiosk cost the pantry between $3,000 to $4,000. Today, the program operates with SmartChoice Food Pantry Software, allowing staff to minimize food waste, optimize operations, reduce its environmental footprint, and take inventory of popular items.
St. John’s Bread & Life is one of two organizations currently using SmartChoice’s full-size kiosks. The other is Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in Manhattan, which got the idea from St. John’s. Because Holy Apostles operates its pantry inside of a church, it puts its kiosks on wheels so they can be easily moved out of the way to accommodate church-goers.
Both pantries are experiencing reduced food waste and have a better understanding of client preferences, said Keri Edwards, President of SmartChoice Food Pantry Software. “For example, if you serve 300 families per week and you know 50% typically select cereal, then you can adjust your purchasing accordingly,” she said.
Guests who head to the St. John’s digital choice pantry are asked only for their address – to ensure they have a kitchen readily available to cook meals – and how many live in their household. To maintain the dignity of choosing their own food, guests are offered a variety of languages on each kiosk, including English, Spanish, French Creole, Mandarin, Cantonese, and a Russian dialog.
“When people shop, they’re actually shopping in their native language,” said Tweedy. “If you’re not going to do that, it’s going to be a little hard for people. You’re going to need more people to help you manage the kiosk.”
The digital choice pantry runs Monday through Thursday, guaranteeing guests up to 10 items each visit, or the equivalent of 64 pounds. To manage the supply, the pantry uses a point system and categorizes items into cereal, rice and grains, meat/fish products, canned goods, and other food groups.
Guests are offered 10 points each visit, with most items being one point each. Once they place their orders at the kiosks, staff members work to package their items in a room nearby, where all goods are organized alphabetically.
Since the pandemic quadrupled the number of meals St. John’s serves, the pantry has been forced to limit guests to two visits a month. There have also been unpredictable changes in federal funding that have led St. John’s to do more with less.
“The cutbacks and the pauses in funding the government funding for food have been a challenge because it’s asking us to do more with less and to provide for more people with less support,” said Tweedy. “It’s caused us to really expand our fundraising effort and our foundation support.”
Annually, St. John’s raises $8 million to $9 million in private donations and relies on government support for roughly 10% of its budget. Though food costs have risen by 17% in this year alone, Tweedy is determined to ensure nobody is turned away from receiving a meal or pantry foods.
“We don’t turn anyone away ever. That’s our mission and right now we’re able to sustain what we have,” said Tweedy, noting that she makes sure to compare prices while purchasing goods. “We try to really manage that by keeping costs as low as possible and providing the highest quality of food.”
In an effort to remain culturally sensitive, Tweedy tries her best to offer items that are staples in certain cuisines, such as bok choy for Asian communities. “When we’re able to do it, we do it,” said Tweedy. “There is a sense of responsibility on our part to make sure that what we provide is also culturally sensitive.”
St. John’s Bread & Life employs a staff of 38 people, which is helpful in managing the digital choice operation. “Digital choice works when you have staff, paid staff, because you train the staff to use the equipment and the software and the tools, and they begin to have that relationship with people,” explained Tweedy.
Client choice in a digital format will always have a place in the lineup of services at St. John’s. “The digital choice pantry will survive no matter what,” Tweedy said. “It’s primary to the community and as an anchor in the community, it’s our duty and obligation to make sure that people get what they need.” – Gabriela Flores
Gabriela Flores is a graduate student at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She is interning at Food Bank News for the summer and has previously reported for Mott Haven Herald, The Rockaway Wave, City Limits and Queens Daily Eagle.
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