CHINA GROVE — China Grove’s Main Street Marketplace makes a difference in the lives of its clients by offering a tier-based pricing scale for its selection of healthy, locally-sourced foods. Its mission to serve the underserved operates at a loss, so additional revenue sources are paramount, which gave its leaders an idea.

Starting next month, Main Street Marketplace will be rolling out a meal kit subscription pilot program aimed at both supporting local farmers and creating a much-needed funding source for the Equitable Community Market.

The program will help fund the operational costs of the market while providing convenient, healthy meals to families throughout Rowan County.

“We want our neighbors to be able to be self-sufficient,” Executive Director Hope Oliphant said. “We want as an organization to not just be asking for handouts, but also to be self-sufficient.”

Driven by the need to find more sustainability as a non-profit, Main Street Marketplace has been strategic in deciding to expand its monthly meal kit offerings. 

China Grove Mayor Rodney Phillips, who serves as the meal kit coordinator, along with a dedicated team of staff including registered dietitians and a board member, will be leading the launch. 

“We’ll do a four-week pilot,” Phillips said. “The first week starts March 12 on a Wednesday, which would be the pickup day, and then we’ll run it for four weeks.

“The goal is to get 15 families that’s part of the pilot that’ll give us a great chance to execute our processes and make sure things are working, as well as get good feedback and test the system. And then once we go to production, we’re expecting to onboard families weekly.”

As with any pilot program, it’s best to start small and work out.

“We will initially offer the service during the pilot period in China Grove,” Oliphant said. “Our goal is to expand to Salisbury with delivery options to make the program accessible to even more residents. As our mission is to support all of Rowan County, we want to ensure that the people of Salisbury can benefit as well.”

Oliphant indicated that the organization is working with several potential partners in Salisbury, but certain things like refrigeration require they find the right space for the drop off point. 

“We thought if we could do a subscription, then that would help, and then also having a location in Salisbury to deliver would allow people in Salisbury to support us,” Oliphant said. “We have a lot of tours, and people come from Salisbury and they love what we’re doing, but to make the trip down here a lot of times (can be difficult).”

The meal kits will include a recipe along with all the necessary ingredients, sourced when possible from local farmers and makers.

“We’re thrilled to feature businesses like Baba Bread, a local French bakery known for its handmade sourdough bread, as part of our meal kits,” Oliphant said. 

Thanks to the help of two registered dietitians helping create the meals, the meals will be healthy, nutritious and appetizing. The meal kit is not exactly uncharted territory for the program. They have done planned meals featuring local farmers that Oliphant noted have gone over well. 

“We also have our food pharmacy program, where it’s really geared toward people in the lower tiers,” she said. 

Phillips added that the partnership with locally sourced farmers presents an opportunity to do something good for them and Main Street Marketplace.

“We’ll put some information in each kit about where it came from, so the family receiving it can learn about one of the farms and get outside of this program, go there and purchase also,” Phillips said. “So it helps them grow their business as well as, yeah, it just helps everybody.”

As the meal kit program catches on, the additional revenue will allow Main Street Marketplace to maintain its tiered-pricing scale and keep a full staff. 

“We’re (currently) generating enough to buy most of the food, but not payroll and things like that,” Oliphant said. “And it’s important to have our staff, because we’re hiring graduates from our Getting Ahead program, and so we want to continue to do the work we’re doing, but we had to find another revenue source.

“Our hope is, in two to three years, that we will have enough subscribers, so to speak, that it will help fund what we need.”

While Main Street Marketplace takes a holistic approach to health and nutrition, at its core is the Equitable Community Market, which helps those in various income brackets afford food. As Oliphant noted, it’s not a handout, and that is the point. 

“For us, the exchange is important,” Oliphant said. “It gives dignity, allows people to do their part, but do it in a way that they can afford. So if somebody’s able to shop in our market, you know, they can save for their rent or for child care or something like that, but yet, they’re still providing for their families.”

Keeping that mission in mind, Phillips added, “I think, at the heart of this, is people in China Grove to Rowan County, are just good people, and everybody looks for ways to help other people. And, you know, a rising tide raises all boats. So this, this program, is just a way to do that.”

To learn more about how the tier-pricing scale works or any of the other programs available to the community, visit marketandmeeeting.org.