Many people may know DC Central Kitchen as the inspiration for world-renowned chef José Andrés’ global version of the same concept, World Central Kitchen. But the DC-based outfit also stands out for its innovative, on-the-ground hunger relief efforts, particularly its Healthy Corners initiative, which utilizes urban corner stores as distribution points for healthy food.
Healthy Corners has been underway for years and recently got a boost with an improvement to its SNAP Match program. In March, the threshold for earning a coupon was lowered from $5 to fifty cents, meaning any time a shopper uses SNAP benefits to purchase at least fifty cents worth of fresh or frozen produce at an eligible corner store, they get a $5 coupon to buy more produce. Shoppers can use this benefit up to two times per day with no monthly limit, receiving $10 in coupons for buying $1 in produce.
Perhaps not surprisingly, coupon redemption for the SNAP Match program has gone up – by 42%. And the coupons, which are valid for five years, have a 93% redemption rate. DC Central Kitchen is already looking for ways to continue the successful SNAP Match program, which is currently funded by a reimbursable USDA grant that will end in 2026. “We will help you buy more of what you already want,” said Mike Curtin, Jr., CEO. “You’re telling us by your behavior, and we’re seeing it.”
More than 60% of the stores participating in Healthy Corners now accept SNAP, and DC Central Kitchen offers support and counseling to any store owners interested in the program. In just five years, SNAP Match has helped to more than double the number of customers using SNAP benefits at Healthy Corners locations, from 10,000 in 2019 to 22,000 in 2024.
DC Central Kitchen introduced the enhanced SNAP Match after noticing a pattern of rising produce sales at the beginning of a month, and a dramatic drop-off in the last week of the month. “You could tell that the SNAP benefits just weren’t lasting,” Curtin said.
Pushing a SNAP matching program to its very limit is in keeping with DC Central Kitchen’s overall playbook. One of its key strategies is to marry existing systems with social enterprise and philanthropy. “Our goal at DC Central Kitchen is to use what exists out there in different or innovative ways that can solve these systemic problems or shortcomings,” Curtin said.
Healthy Corners is a classic example of taking advantage of existing infrastructure to address an ongoing problem. Since 2011, DC Central Kitchen has been equipping corner store owners in DC food deserts with fresh produce and other healthy items, bringing healthy food to places where it was lacking and jumpstarting shopper demand. DC Central Kitchen sources the produce from local farms, provides shelving and fridges for product display, and hosts educational events.
So far, DC Central Kitchen has 57 stores participating in its Healthy Corners program. Of those, 34 accept SNAP Match coupons and nine also accept WIC benefits, a development that required advocacy from DC Central Kitchen to change local regulations. DC Central Kitchen has also been able to hire graduates from its job training program to deliver products to participating corner stores.
Produce sales have been steadily growing, from a quarter of a million in the late 2010s to nearly half a million (440,000) units last year. Store owners and farmers make money, and the program even covers 50% to 75% of DC Central Kitchen’s operating expenses, depending on the season.
“The merchants are making money,” Curtin said, and so are farmers. He’s seen owners take the initiative to expand their selections of healthy food beyond what DC Central Kitchen sources and even forming groups of stores to buy as co-ops. “When this really works well, we see things like slushy machines being taken out to put in another refrigerator, another display case,” he said.
By Curtin’s reckoning, any city interested in starting a similar program would need an organization like DC Central Kitchen at the ready to spearhead relationships and provide infrastructure. When local stakeholders started floating the idea of getting produce into corner stores in the early aughts, DC Central Kitchen was ready with the refrigeration, storage space, sourcing, relationships with local and international growers, a truck fleet, staff, volunteers, and packaging and labelling.
As a nonprofit, DC Central Kitchen does not have the same economic pressures as growers, distributors, and corner store owners. The problem is not necessarily that corner store owners do not want to sell healthier food. But regularly delivering fresh produce in the small quantities corner stores can move may not let producers and distributors break even. “We are willing to forego some of those traditional business structures that would make us profitable, because we know we can make up some of the difference with philanthropy,” Curtin said.
Getting corner store owners on board can be a challenge, leading to sensitive conversations. “Don’t ask them to clear out fridges full of best sellers like beer and soda,” Curtin said. DC Central Kitchen gave store owners the initial displays and fridges, as well as a few weeks of free products to prove demand and help develop a market together.
Essentially, DC Central Kitchen took on all the initial risk and framed the conversation as an economic win. “That’s how you get them in,” Curtin said. “You can’t just go in and say, ‘Empty out all this bad food you’re selling, because it’s horrible for people, even though you’re making a ton of money on it, and then buy our expensive stuff.’” – Shelbi Polk
Shelbi Polk is a freelance journalist and MFA student based in Durham, N.C., where she covers books and innovative social programs.
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