SpartanNash Doubles Up to Help SNAP Shoppers

In 2014, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based SpartanNash became the first major grocery retail chain in Michigan to support the Double Up Food Bucks program, which is funded by federal, state and private sources. Under the program, for each dollar of fresh produce a SNAP customer purchases – up to $20 per day – he or she can receive the equivalent in free product, thereby stretching his or her food dollars and gaining access to more healthy options.

“We have continually expanded the program to additional stores each year, giving more of our SNAP shoppers easier access to fresh fruits and vegetables through the Double Up program,” says Meredith Gremel, the grocer’s VP, corporate affairs and communications, and executive director of the SpartanNash Foundation. “In 2017, we expanded Double Up Food Bucks to 46 stores across Michigan, including 34 Family Fare Supermarkets, six VG’s stores and five ValuLand locations.”

SpartanNash’s commitment to the initiative hasn’t stopped there, however. “In the past four years, our company has invested more than $150,000 to ensure the success of the program, the majority of which was spent on refining point-of-sale systems to make it easier for SNAP shoppers to earn and redeem Double Up dollars for fresh produce,” notes Gremel, adding, “To date, SpartanNash has partnered with more than 100 community organizations to inform SNAP customers – in both English and Spanish – about the Double Up program.”

For more about grocers’ corporate responsibility efforts, read the article in the November 2017 issue of Progressive Grocer.