DoorDash, Brighter Bites Team to Deliver Fresh Food to Families

Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization that provides families with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as nutrition education resources, has joined forces with DoorDash through its Project DASH initiative to increase fresh produce accessibility to children and their families in three of the nine cities where Brighter Bites programming is available: New York City, Houston and Washington D.C.

Brighter Bites works with families in more than 120 school settings, with each family receiving about 25 pounds of fresh, seasonal produce and nutrition education on a weekly basis. Project DASH will enable families experiencing transportation difficulties to take part in the Brighter Bites program. DoorDash drivers will travel to select enrolled schools to gather the produce boxes and deliver them directly to families’ homes. Using the same technology available to DoorDash’s retail partners, Brighter Bites can reach families in a new way. So far, Project DASH has powered more than 1.8 million deliveries of 33 million-plus estimated meals across the U.S. and Canada.

“Leveraging logistics that DoorDash has to offer has been a game changer in our work,” said Rich Dachman, CEO of Houston-based Brighter Bites. “There is a barrier for families who rely on alternative ways to get to and from school that can hinder their ability to take the fresh produce boxes home. DoorDash’s capability to pick up and drop off the produce boxes directly to families’ doorsteps is monumental. We are thrilled to partner with DoorDash’s Project DASH initiative to better serve our communities!” 

This fall, the partnership is expected to expand to the remaining six cities where Brighter Bites operates.

“We are honored to partner with Brighter Bites to broaden food access by delivering fresh food to families in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Houston,” noted Brittany Graunke, DoorDash drive director. “Local delivery has been critical in supporting food banks and other social-impact organizations’ provision of food and other essentials while emphasizing convenience and dignity. We’re excited to continue growing this work in a sustainable way for our partners across the country to continue to meet the ongoing need.” 

In other DoorDash news, the San Francisco-based company revealed that it has completed the acquisition of Helsinki-based technology company Wolt Enterprises Oy, in an all-stock transaction, bringing DoorDash to a total of 27 countries. 

Going forward, Wolt CEO Miki Kuusi will oversee the combined company’s team and operations outside the United States, reporting to DoorDash co-founder CEO Tony Xu. Under Kuusi’s leadership, DoorDash will aim to ramp up its international growth through faster product development and improved investment efficiency. The Wolt consumer app will continue to run separately, and Wolt also plans to maintain operations in all of the 23 countries where it currently operates.

“DoorDash is at the beginning of a colossal journey, and I’m more excited than ever about what we’re building and the potential to help hundreds of millions of people across the globe in our mission to empower local economies,” observed Xu. “Together with Wolt, we believe we have the best team and platform to serve merchants, consumers and couriers in our existing and future markets. Our journey in building our international business is just beginning, and we’re confident in the incredible future we will build together.”