Durham-based produce delivery service Ungraded Produce is merging with Hungry Harvest—a larger organization with similar objectives—in an effort to expand the fight to decrease food waste and improve food accessibility across the state and beyond.
“We’re the home team, so we have that local touch that people really value in the area, and Hungry Harvest has a robust supply team and a more developed process,” says Courtney Bell, president and founder of Ungraded Produce. “We thought it would make sense to team up and provide people in North Carolina with the best service possible.”
Since its launch in 2016, Bell’s organization has sourced “ugly” produce—fruits and vegetables that are rejected by grocery stores due to being slightly bruised or oddly shaped, sized, or colored, but retain the same taste, nutritional benefits, and shelf life as their more attractive counterparts—and delivered it weekly to subscribers in the Triangle.
Bell will continue to push the work forward with Hungry Harvest, which also gathers and distributes unwanted produce as part of its mission to eliminate food waste and end hunger. Each delivery saves at least ten pounds of food from going to waste; Hungry Harvest has rescued over fifteen million pounds of food in its existence.
The organization was established in Maryland in 2014 and expanded to eight other states and Washington, DC, after receiving an investor’s attention on the reality show Shark Tank. Hungry Harvest opened a branch in the Triangle last year. Starting this weekend, Hungry Harvest will be sourcing, packing, and delivering produce to Ungraded customers.
“We’ve known Courtney for a while and really admire the work she’s done in the space,” says Evan Lutz, founder and CEO of Hungry Harvest. “[By merging], we’re able to put more money into North Carolina farmers’ pockets, reduce more waste, increase donations, and serve more customers.”
Hungry Harvest will be using Ungraded’s same delivery drivers and several of the same sources, like Blue Thumb Farms, a female-led hydroponic produce farm in Zebulon.
Hungry Harvest offers comparably priced and weighted options of weekly variety boxes—its medium-sized package costs about $25 for standard produce and $35 for organic, featuring goods like collard greens, grape tomatoes, romanesco, and baby golden potatoes. New to Ungraded customers will be selections beyond fruits and vegetables—granola, eggs, coffee beans, and Ninth Street Bakery’s bread, to name a few—as well as the choice to build their own customizable boxes.
“[Hungry Harvest is] able to work with growers from regions around the country,” Bell says. “We’ll be able to offer our customers an even better variety of products.”
Ungraded customers will still be able to support food-insecure families, as Hungry Harvest donates a portion of its produce to hunger-solving organizations. Since its inception, Hungry Harvest has contributed over one million pounds of produce to operations working to end hunger. Hungry Harvest is also brand partners with James Beard Award-winning chef Ashley Christensen.
Current Ungraded Produce subscribers can switch their accounts over to Hungry Harvest online.
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