Grocery
Independent rural grocery stores are facing challenges and going out of business at a rapid rate. But these stores also have tremendous assets: loyalty from longtime customers who want to see their community thrive; owners and operators who are local residents and care deeply about the health and economic well-being of their town; and infrastructure – large buildings, food processing kitchens, and excess storage, to name a few.
New Venture Advisors helps communities identify opportunities to build, strengthen or repurpose grocery stores in their local food systems. We help local grocery store owners revise their business strategies to remain relevant, beneficial forces in their community and the local economy.
See our grocery projects below, and visit our Publications page to view our reports.
About Us
New Venture Advisors is a team of business consultants specializing in local food system planning and new enterprise development.
Grocery Projects
Clinton Hill Grocery Developments
Newark, NJ
Clinton Hill Community Action is a community development organization that partners with residents to revitalize the Clinton Hill neighborhood, ensure that development is equitable and just, and advocate for what the community needs and deserves. Its Food Security and Economic Justice initiatives include the development of a mutual aid grocery store to open in 2024 and a food cooperative in a second location to open soon after. The grocery store / food pantry hybrid will carry a variety of fresh foods and products from local artisans. The food co-op will carry a larger selection and potentially include rotating vendor space with business incubator programming for aspiring food entrepreneurs. New Venture Advisors is providing business planning services to support the launch of these ventures. (2024)
Muskegon Food Club
Muskegon, MI
Access Health, a nonprofit in Muskegon County, aims to improve health outcomes by partnering with community organizations, local government agencies, business entities, healthcare providers, investors, and community members. Together, they strive to collectively transform how healthcare is delivered and received in Muskegon County, Michigan. The goal is to improve healthcare access and enhance the quality of life for all residents. To address food insecurity among low-income individuals, Access Health has convened the Muskegon County Food Club Workgroup. This initiative aims to establish a member-based grocery store modeled after the Community Food Club of Grand Rapids. The model emphasizes dignity, allowing members to select their own foods in a traditional grocery store setting while incentivizing nutritious food choices. New Venture Advisors will conduct a Needs Assessment to evaluate the food club model and identify potential sites within the county. This assessment will be crucial in determining the feasibility and optimal locations for the Muskegon County Food Club, ultimately increasing food security for residents and contributing to overall community well-being. (2024)
Wisconsin Food Banks Grocery Card Study
Milwaukee, WI
To give neighbors more access, choice, and fresh food, two Wisconsin food banks are exploring alternate payment systems so neighbors can purchase food from their local grocery stores and other retailers, especially in rural communities. Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin have been awarded a grant from the Alliant Energy Foundation for the project. The tool would be implemented across their combined 35 counties and ideally scale statewide across Wisconsin, and beyond. New Venture Advisors is assisting in discovering feasible technologies and partnerships for this ambitious venture. (2024)
Southern Illinois Mobile Market Feasibility Study
Chicago, IL
Faith in Place empowers people of diverse faiths and spiritualities to be leaders in advancing environmental and racial justice, providing resources to educate, connect, and advocate for healthier communities. The organization has a history of working with sustainable food systems throughout the state of Illinois and is leading an initiative to develop a network of mobile markets in the southernmost 17 counties to assess the feasibility of a mobile market. The program will be a collaboration with Food Works and LEAF Food Hub to improve access to food while also supporting local food producers in these rural areas of the state. New Venture Advisors conducted a feasibility study to assess the needs, partners, and locations necessary for this mobile market network and created a plan and toolkit to support the expansion of the network. (2024)
Winchendon Grocery Development
Winchendon, MA
Growing Places and HEAL Winchendon are nonprofit organizations working to improve the health of residents in Winchendon through healthy food access and the food system as a whole. The town has not had a full service grocery store since IGA closed after a dollar store, convenience store and drug chain moved in nearby. New Venture Advisors recently completed a feasibility study that found strong community support, several viable distributor models, and the potential for sales to sustain operations, depending on occupancy costs and other factors that ultimately determine how well a particular store performs. A promising site has been identified downtown, and NVA evaluated the facility’s suitability, generated sales projections, and supported initial concept designs. Since the site offers potential, the next steps include developing a business plan and conceptual design to invite investors to help the community bring a full service grocery store back to Winchendon. (2023)
Crow Innovation Center Feasibility Study
Crow Agency, MT
The Crow Indian Reservation has been without a nearby source for food since the local grocery store burned down a few years ago. Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation engaged New Venture Advisors to conduct a feasibility study for a grocery store to be located on the Reservation, as part of an innovation center that will also include a shared kitchen and incubation space for small businesses in two newly renovated buildings. The study determined how the components would be situated and function across two buildings in development, and the financial requirements for construction and ongoing operations. NVA also supported outreach to the community to determine a viable model and validate interest in the grocery store and incubation spaces, considering alternative formats like those appearing around the country as rural towns invent new pathways to food security. (2023)
Healthy Corner Store Initiative Program Design
Wichita, KS
The City of Wichita and Sedgwick County conducted a food system planning process led by New Venture Advisors (NVA) from 2020-2021. The community-driven City of Wichita/Sedgwick County Food System Master Plan recommended utilizing a variety of tools to increase access to healthy food. In particular, there was strong support for partnering with existing food businesses to improve access to healthy food in Wichita’s food desert neighborhoods. Therefore, the City of Wichita allocated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to create a Healthy Corner Store Initiative for the city of Wichita. To support this initiative, NVA partnered with The Food Trust, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization that has pioneered healthy corner store and “small store” programs throughout the country. Together, NVA and The Food Trust designed a Healthy Corner Store Initiative Pilot Program, developed a draft program budget, and participated in the city’s RFP process to identify an implementing organization. (2023) Download plan here.
Shawnee Grocery Study
Shawnee, OK
Pogo is a community-wide wellbeing initiative that works to impact long term health outcomes by supporting health interventions throughout the fabric of the community. Pogo focuses efforts on individuals, worksites, and policy, specifically food policy, and engages representatives from tribal nations, government, education, healthcare, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations to steer its work. Through a technical assistance grant from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, New Venture Advisors assisted Pogo in identifying feasible solutions to their food access challenges and organizing the group’s momentum around several promising models. (2022)
City of Wichita Food Access Strategy
Wichita, KS
Like many urban areas across the U.S., the City of Wichita is grappling with yet another closure of a grocery store in one of its low-income neighborhoods. The pandemic has shown that affordable access to nutritious food is critical and yet access to full service grocery is scant in several Wichita neighborhoods. New Venture Advisors assisted city leaders in understanding the factors that lead to store closures, identified national best practices for addressing “food deserts,” and evaluated potential business model innovations proposed by private enterprises. (2021)
Great Plains Food Bank Mobile Market
Fargo, ND
For 36 years, the Great Plains Food Bank has been working to end hunger across North Dakota and western Minnesota. As the only food bank in this service area, they distribute more than 12 million meals annually to over 102,000 food insecure residents through a number of innovative programs. New Venture Advisors assessed the viability of a new initiative: a mobile market that serves communities across the state that lack a grocery store. The market would operate as a social enterprise, deploying the assets, staff and know-how of their existing mobile food pantry program as a for-profit business that sells fresh and shelf-stable food sourced through the central food bank and purchased from farms and food makers in retail market locations. (2020)
Central Massachusetts Food Co-op Market Study
Worcester, MA
Central Mass Grown (CMG) is exploring the establishment of a local food cooperative grocery store in Worcester, MA. As the Buy Local organization for Worcester County, CMG received grant funding to research and plan for the creation of a food co-op that would source its inventory from local producers and invite membership from local farmers, makers and shoppers. New Venture Advisors conducted a market study to assess the market feasibility of a new co-op food store within the Worcester city limits. (2019)
Kansas Statewide Food Distribution Study
Topeka, KS
The Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansans directs resources toward helping Kansans and Kansas communities achieve and maintain optimal health. Access to fresh food in the many rural communities across the state is of chief concern as grocery stores continue to shutter in small towns. Together with the Rural Grocery Initiative at K-State, Sunflower and New Venture Advisors assessed the food distribution landscape in Kansas to propose innovative, alternative strategies that will provide critical support to rural grocery stores throughout the state of Kansas. (2018)
Rural Grocery Food Hub Assessment
Beloit, KS
The North Central Regional Planning Commission of Kansas spearheaded a study to support rural growers, consumers and grocery stores in North Central Kansas. Its vision was to assist rural grocery stores in establishing a local food hub within their operation to bring them additional revenue, provide new sources of revenue for local producers, and bring more local agricultural products into the community. New Venture Advisors led the study, which began with grocery store owners conducting self-assessments using NVA’s Rural Grocery HubSizer® tool. (2017)
Rural Grocery Store Initiative
Kansas, Iowa, Michigan
Rural grocery stores are closing at an alarming rate. This study explored the feasibility of adapting these stores into food hubs, providing additional revenue streams and an additional inducement for distributors to service these remote locations to prevent closings. Funded in part through the USDA, New Venture Advisors conducted baseline feasibility analysis with 4 stores in 3 states. Results were published throughout 2016. (2016)
The Food Trust Small Store Initiative
Philadelphia, PA
New Venture Advisors assisted The Food Trust in conducting a national scan of distribution networks that serve small stores such as corner stores, bodegas, convenience stores, fuel-based retail and rural grocers. The project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, examined the supply chain that moves food from production to the point of consumption to better understand the barriers in bringing fresher and more nutritious foods to small stores. (2016)
