Gourmet News

DoorDash Awards $500K+ in Project DASH Impact Grants

Published February 8, 2024

DoorDash has awarded more than $500,000 in Project DASH Impact Grants to over 200 food banks, food pantries, and other social impact organizations located in more than 30 states.

Project DASH is DoorDash’s initiative to empower food banks, food pantries, and other social impact organizations to deliver food and essential items to people experiencing food insecurity. Since 2018, Project DASH has powered more than 5 million deliveries of an estimated over 80 million meals.

These grants can be used for any home delivery-related expense, including securing more nutritious food, defraying staff costs, powering more deliveries, or reaching new populations. With this round of funding, DoorDash is continuing to help residents access food in a way that emphasizes convenience and dignity.

“We are extremely grateful to DoorDash for this generous Project DASH Impact grant,” said Julie Yurko, president and CEO at Northern Illinois Food Bank. “These funds will help increase the number of home deliveries from our food pantries and programs like My Pantry Express and ensure our neighbors who lack transportation and accessibility, have access to the nutritious food they need to thrive, with dignity, equity and convenience.”

Across the United States, partners plan to leverage their Project DASH Impact Grants to provide a broader selection of food options and personal care products, serve people more regularly and supplement volunteer home delivery, defray partner staff costs, and deliver to vulnerable populations facing transportation barriers. Some examples of partners leveraging Project DASH Impact Grants to augment their work include:

the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina growing their reach in rural areas and incorporating delivery into their backpack-based children’s nutrition program, while continuing to serve senior food box recipients; and
Preble Street in Maine adding fresh produce, culturally appropriate ingredients, and other items in food box deliveries.

“Hugs and Hope extends our heartfelt gratitude to DoorDash for their invaluable support in our mission to broaden our impact through the launch of our ‘Bags of Hope’ Program providing food deliveries for families of children attending Title 1 schools and senior citizens. The deliveries are made on Fridays, ensuring they have sustenance over the weekend when the children are away from school. Thank you for making a difference with us because our partnership is instrumental in spreading not only hope but also an abundance of hugs,” said Jeri Austin, executive director, Hugs and Hope.

“Local delivery of charitable food helps break down barriers to access for seniors, people with a disability, working parents, and other people in local communities,” said Daniel Riff, Head of DoorDash Drive Government & Nonprofit. “We’re excited to help our partners across the U.S. serve more people in innovative ways by providing more than half a million dollars in Project DASH Impact Grants to food banks, food pantries, and other social impact organizations. DoorDash is committed to working alongside our partners and stakeholders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to continue broadening food access.”

Project DASH empowers social impact organizations—such as food banks and pantries—to work with Dashers and use DoorDash technology to provide local delivery to their communities. These partner organizations determine who receives deliveries, when deliveries will take place, and where the distribution site will be. Dashers complete the deliveries, and recipients receive updates via text message throughout the process.

In 2023, the Urban Institute released a report, Connecting People with Charitable Food through New Home Delivery Partnerships. The report, supported by DoorDash, found that Project DASH has helped alleviate organizational capacity challenges in implementing home delivery, reduced stigma and enhanced convenience, and expanded the communities anti-hunger organizations served, including by connecting hard-to-reach populations with charitable food.

Organizations interested in expanding their existing delivery efforts or learning more about how delivery can enhance their programs can contact the Project DASH team at projectdash@doordash.com.

For more news of interest to the food and beverage industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.

Wine & Beverage Summit Returns to CIA at Copia in May

Published February 8, 2024

For the first time in four years, the Culinary Institute of America’s Wine & Beverage Summit—a three-day gathering of the beverage industry’s best and brightest—returns to the CIA at Copia May 5-7. Featuring everything from immersive tastings to in-depth dialogue on the state of wine education, innovative career paths, and increasing both business savvy and financial fluency, the conference will welcome recognized wine experts and rising stars alike. It is ideal for junior and mid-level industry professionals looking to grow their knowledge and advance their careers.

“We are thrilled to bring back this incredible event with a focus on professional development,” said Maryam Ahmed, consulting program director. “Attendees can expect a truly enriching experience. Unlike larger conferences where one-way presentations are the focus, this summit was deliberately crafted to be a smaller, more intimate gathering so attendees can interact directly with the presenters and each other during breakout sessions and receptions.”

Among the esteemed beverage experts and presenters are: Emily Wines, certified master sommelier, and vice president of wine experience at Coopers Hawk Winery and Restaurant; Erik Segelbaum, founder and chief vinnovation officer at SOMLYAY, LLC; TJ Douglas, CEO and founder of the Drink Progressively Group; and Andrea Robinson, master sommelier, author, and consultant to Delta Airlines and Norwegian Cruise Line.

The Wine & Beverage Summit also serves as one of the residency sites for CIA Wine and Beverage Management master’s degree students, who will attend as part of their program.

For more information or to view the full program schedule for the Wine & Beverage Summit, visit ciabevpro.com.

Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is the world’s premier culinary college. Dedicated to developing leaders in foodservice and hospitality, the independent, not-for-profit CIA offers associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees with majors in culinary arts, baking & pastry arts, food business management, hospitality management, culinary science, and applied food studies. The college also offers executive education, certificate programs, and courses for professionals and enthusiasts. Its conferences, leadership initiatives, and consulting services have made the CIA the think tank of the food industry and its worldwide network of more than 50,000 alumni includes innovators in every area of the food world. The CIA has locations in New York, California, Texas, and Singapore. For more information, visit www.ciachef.edu.

For more news of interest to the wine industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.

Sweetgreen Appoints Retail Veteran Williams as COO

Published February 5, 2024

Sweetgreen announced the appointment of Rossann Williams as the company’s chief operating officer, effective Feb. 5. Williams joins Sweetgreen’s executive leadership team and will oversee operations, real estate + development and supply chain for the company.

Williams is an accomplished global operations executive bringing more than 30 years of experience leading retail businesses. Williams is a respected and engaged leader focused on cultivating high-performance teams at every level of the business.

“Rossann is an industry veteran with a proven track record in driving sustainable growth of global, iconic brands and leading teams to generate profitability,” said Jonathan Neman, CEO and co-founder of Sweetgreen. “Rossann complements the existing skills and experience of our leadership team as we pursue our next chapter of growth. It’s clear that she shares our values, and I look forward to partnering with Rossann to further our mission of connecting more communities to real food.”

Prior to joining Sweetgreen, Williams spent over 18 years at Starbucks, where she rose to EVP and president of North America retail. In this role, she oversaw a market of approximately 16,000 stores, where she significantly improved same-store sales, successfully opened thousands of new stores and helped navigate the company through the pandemic. At Starbucks, Williams also served in senior operations roles across North America, eventually rising to SVP, global and Americas operations services. Previously, Williams held leadership roles for several well-known Fortune 500 brands, including Blockbuster and Toys “R” Us.

“I’ve long admired Sweetgreen’s leadership as a founder-led, mission-driven company driving the industry forward. I am deeply aligned with Sweetgreen’s values, people-centric approach and commitment to connect more people to delicious, real food. I’m thrilled to be joining the Sweetgreen team at a moment of significant growth and an incredible opportunity ahead,” said Williams.

Sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. Sweetgreen sources the best quality ingredients from farmers and suppliers they trust to cook food from scratch that is both delicious and nourishing. They plant roots in each community by building a transparent supply chain, investing in local farmers and growers, and enhancing the total experience with innovative technology.

Since opening its first 560-square-foot location in 2007, Sweetgreen has scaled to over 220 locations across the United States, and their vision is to lead the next generation of restaurants and lifestyle brands built on quality, community and innovation.

To learn more about Sweetgreen, its menu, and its loyalty program, visit www.Sweetgreen.com. Follow @Sweetgreen on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

For more news of interest to the food and beverage industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.