Ethnic Grocery Store

Try a new ethnic grocery store and explore your pallet. Try new things with each other!

Daily Table is the brainchild of Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s. He’s made noise for a long time that he wanted to open this sort of store where the food would be sold at a steep discount to help provide low-income families with affordable and nutritious food. The low prices—considerably lower even than the cheapest options at traditional grocery stores—are possible because the food is obtained from farmers, manufacturers, and other grocery stores and distributors as donations or at a steep discount because it is excess or near its sell-by date. 

This is food that is still perfectly fine to eat but would be going to waste otherwise. The National Resources Defense Council estimates that nearly 40% of food produced in the US is wasted each year, so it seems like a natural solution to provide that food to the 49 million Americans who are “food insecure,” which means that they lack access to healthy and affordable food.

Daily Table has a partnership with the Greater Boston Food Bank, but Rauch has said that he’s charging for his food because many people may feel uncomfortable going to a food bank. Rauch’s goal is for the store to break even.

While preparing to open Daily Table, Rauch said he learned that there was high neighborhood interest in easy and convenient food with low prices. Now much of the store is dedicated to grab-and-go meals — macaroni and cheese, pastas, soups, and other dishes — that customers can take home and heat up quickly in the microwave or the oven. Entrees cost between $1.79 and $4.99, while side dishes are priced between 50 cents and $1. Soups range from $1.49 to $3.99.

Rauch caught a bunch of flack back in 2013 when he announced his plan, but I think this is an excellent idea. All of this food is before its expiration date and is still perfectly good and safe to eat, and most food is fine even after its stated expiration date. This is one of those “feed two birds with one scone” solutions whose time has come.