Feeding San Diego and Stater Bros. Markets Partner to Rescue Over 40,000 Pounds of Food Monthly Across Nine Stores Countywide

The partnership represents the latest of over 320 grocery food donors to tap the non-profit to handle logistics for the redistribution of edible surplus food to people facing hunger

Through a new partnership, Stater Bros. Markets is projected to donate over 40,000 pounds of food monthly to local non-profit Feeding San Diego. This amounts to just over 33,000 meals available to San Diegans facing hunger every month, made possible in partnership with Feeding San Diego and its network of food distribution partners.

The hunger-relief and food rescue non-profit has recently started picking up food donations from all nine Stater Bros. Markets locations around the county. Logistically, this represents three pick–ups per week, per store, resulting in 108 pick–ups in total. The food will make its way to people experiencing hunger via 15 of Feeding San Diego’s local non-profit and faith-based partners, including The Community Food Connection, Ramona Food & Clothes Closet, The Salvation Army in Oceanside, and Palomar College. Overall, Feeding San Diego connects more than 100 nonprofit partners countywide with rescued food from local food donors for community-based food distributions. In total, over 1.3 million pounds of food is being rescued every month from local grocery stores.

“Partnering with food donors is the key to building a strong foundation for food rescue in San Diego County,” said Patty O’Connor, chief operations officer at Feeding San Diego. “When companies partner with us, they benefit from over 15 years of hands-on experience in food rescue. Our team is adept at the logistics required and is committed to supporting local companies with this aspect of their business.”

Feeding San Diego’s flexible decentralized food rescue model, which has been in place since the non-profit was founded in 2007, is not just good for people facing hunger in our communities—it’s also critical to protect the environment. Traditional food banks bring all food to a central warehouse before distributing it. Feeding San Diego’s decentralized model allows the organization to choose whether to keep food local or bring it to the distribution center. If it’s more efficient for a local partner to rescue the food directly, the non-profit coordinates pick–ups from the food donor by a community partner. Every week, Feeding San Diego is behind over 900 of these pickups. This process helps keep the food fresher, speeds up time to distribution, and enables the organization to serve more people facing hunger. Last year, 90% of the food Feeding San Diego distributed was rescued. This represents 32.6 million pounds of food diverted from the landfill.

In addition to donating food, Stater Bros. Charities, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports the critical needs in the communities where Stater Bros. teammates live and work, has supported Feeding San Diego’s mission since 2019. The non-profit has donated nearly $20,000 in support of Feeding San Diego’s hunger-relief and food rescue programs. 

“Putting community first means serving our customers beyond the checkout line,” said Bertha Luna, Senior Vice President Retail Operations. “That’s why we’re proud to partner with Feeding San Diego, so that we can ensure that good food reaches our neighbors who need it the most.”