Roche Brothers describes partnership with Spoonfuls that recovered nearly 1 million pounds of food annually
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Summary
Roche Brothers told MassDEP staff and stakeholders that a five‑day‑a‑week pickup partnership with nonprofit Spoonfuls rescued large volumes of edible food from stores, served nonprofits and boosted employee engagement; Spoonfuls described onboarding and safety practices.
John Fisher opened the panel’s retail segment by introducing Adi (Artie) Cruz, director of operations for Roche Brothers, who described the supermarket chain’s multi‑town donation work with Spoonfuls, a food‑rescue nonprofit.
Cruz said Roche Brothers has 20 stores under three banners (Roche Brothers, Brothers Marketplace and Sudbury Farms) and that Spoonfuls currently picks up in 14 of those locations. He described a partnership that rescues perishables—produce, dairy, frozen meat, bakery and grocery items—and delivers them in refrigerated trucks to churches, schools, shelters, group homes and senior centers.
“From 02/2019 to 02/2023 we averaged 750,000 pounds of food recovered,” Cruz said. He added that Roche Brothers donated almost 900,000 pounds in 2024 after Spoonfuls expanded service to more stores, and that in 2025 the partnership was on pace to recover more than one million pounds.
Cruz credited Spoonfuls for real‑time tracking and for staff trained in food safety who sort and deliver donations. He said the program reduces store staff morale loss associated with waste and gives employees a sense of community service. Cruz also noted constraints: Spoonfuls is a nonprofit and expanding to all 20 Roche Brothers stores requires additional funding for routes and staff.
Joni from Spoonfuls described onboarding and partner support. She said the nonprofit provides date‑label guidance, department‑by‑department training sheets and ongoing, route‑level relationship management. “When our staff shows up at the store while things are set aside, we actually write on‑site, look through that product again, kind of ensure that it's usable, and then take it,” she said. “So 100% of everything we distribute, is actually delivered.”
Subcommittee members discussed barriers to expanding retail donation, including store‑level workflows (for example, lack of a dedicated bin in each department for donation), route capacity and brand or in‑store restrictions on certain categories. Participants suggested simple operational fixes—clear on‑floor bins for donations, standardized checklists for donors and distributor outreach—that could increase recoverable food without changing safety protocols.
A tax question from the chat prompted Cruz to say the chain had learned a family‑level tax deduction is available and that Spoonfuls provides monthly donation reports listing pounds donated and a dollar value form that can support tax deduction claims for donors’ charitable giving. Cruz emphasized, however, that tax benefits were not the chain’s primary motivation for donating.
