Category: News

Upgrades to the Fresh Fleet

Blog / Upgrades to the Fresh Fleet

In the last year, Fresh Truck has experienced overwhelming interest from our customers, partners, and supporters, calling for us to expand our programming and retail offerings. To grow our operations and better meet the needs of our community, we are rolling out the biggest renovations yet to one of our mobile markets.

Our goal is to be a full-service grocery store and one stop shop for our customers. This will have a huge impact on operating efficiency, product offering, and space allocation. We currently operate two mobile markets to execute all of our programs. The larger bus, Diane, named after one of our favorite customers and supporters, is used for our Pop-up Events at schools, health centers, and other community locations. The smaller bus, named 77, is used for our Weekly Market stops and will be the focus of the renovation project.

As you can imagine, a grocery store on wheels is no small project, so we have enlisted the help of a brilliant project team to help us get it done:

  • Kipp Bradford an engineer in the MIT Media Lab is developing custom refrigeration compressors to keep our food cool. They need to be space efficient, durable and energy efficient.
  • TriMark is supporting general contracting and equipment selection for the renovation. They are a national leader in foodservice equipment and design.
  • Food+Future is a collection of multidisciplinary food innovators focusing on increasing understanding, trust, and access within our food system. They have brought us on as a ‘Friend of Food + Future,’ and they keep us on the cutting edge of food research, retail design, and technology.
  • TBA – Our retail layout and in-store experience design partner will be announced soon! But we can tell you now, it’s gonna be sweet.

This week we began Phase 1 of our renovation by installing a refrigerator on 77. This unit will allow us to begin testing the demand for milk, eggs, meat and prepared foods. In addition to refrigerated products, we will also be testing demand for a variety of shelf-stable items through the spring. The results of these tests, along with a comprehensive market analysis will inform how we allocate space in the full-scale renovation.

To follow our renovation progress as it happens, follow us on Instagram @thefreshtruck!

 

 

Blog / Upgrades to the Fresh Fleet

We’re hiring! – Help us drive food, health and community

Blog / We’re hiring! – Help us drive food, health and community

About Fresh Truck

We’re on a mission to radically impact community health in Boston by celebrating community food culture and getting fresh food to those who need it most. Fresh Truck operates two renovated school buses as mobile food markets, stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables, and healthy snacks. We partner with health centers and other community organizations to combine their services with access to affordable, healthy food. We love Boston, we’re obsessed with our mission and we’re committed to meaningful, long-term social impact.

Job description

Market Managers are the face of Fresh Truck in our communities, they make the shopping experience for our customers delightful and unique. This role requires a diverse skill set blending food purveyor, dockworker, truck driver, and customer service representative. We’re looking for someone with an unrelenting passion for community building and food.

What you’ll do

  • Drive a full-size, 39ft school bus
  • Manage daily mobile market operations from bus loading/un-loading, inventory management, restocking, to cleaning
  • Create an inviting customer shopping experience through consistent engaging customer service
  • Communicate with vendors, community partners, and co-workers
  • Support other Fresh Truck initiatives such as community outreach, customer surveys, and operations process improvement

Who you are

  • An excellent driver, accustomed to driving in an urban environment; strong preference for individuals with experience driving box trucks and large vehicles
  • Grit – you’re willing to get your hands dirty, comfortable with some heavy lifting and will stop at nothing to make things happen
  • You embrace working within diverse community settings and with a strong sense of social justice; being multilingual (Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Cantonese) and/or a Boston native is huge a plus

Requirements

  • Driver’s license with clean driving record for the past 3 years
  • Conversational Spanish
  • Ability to lift ~50lb on a regular basis
  • Positive attitude and willingness to learn

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and health benefits
  • $10/ shift in food; any additional purchases are 50% off
  • The opportunity to shape Fresh Truck’s growth
  • Work day in and day out to make Boston a healthier city

Contact

We’re excited to hear from you! To apply send a resume to resumes@thefreshtruck.org

Blog / We’re hiring! – Help us drive food, health and community

Meet our new COO: Sunny Chen

Blog / Meet our new COO: Sunny Chen

 

We’re excited to introduce you to Sunny Chen, the newest member of the Fresh Truck team. He will be coming on as our Chief Operations Officer. His work will keep Fresh Truck running on time, fully stocked and delighting our customers. He will be focused on the supply chain, infrastructure improvements and renovation projects that will allow us to grow our impact in 2O17.

What brought you to Fresh Truck?
I worked previously as a project manager developing medical training tools aimed at improving maternal and child health in low-resource settings. There, I began to understand the impact of nutrition on people’s health and the role that food plays in our society and environment. After three years of working in Norway, I returned to the states in search of a career in food. I found Clover Food Lab, where I learned about the food industry, worked on improving operational efficiency and built new systems for ordering and recipes. Looking to make my own mark in the food system, I searched for an opportunity to build a team within a mission-driven organization that aims to improve health through food. Fresh Truck’s mission to improve community health through food culture and access was the perfect fit!

 

What’s your favorite food memory?
Making dumplings with my family over Chinese New Year. There’s a job for everyone involved, from peeling garlic for the dipping sauce to chopping vegetables for the stuffing. It is the perfect activity to bring people together.

 

What are you excited to get to work on?
I’m excited to build an awesome operations team that consistently delivers delicious and healthy food to our customers. I’m also passionate about digging into the data behind Fresh Truck’s operation. I look forward to enabling the organization to take a data-driven approach towards investing our time and resources efficiently so that we can have the most impact on those who need it the most.

 

What’s your favorite food pun?
When do you need that by? Anythyme.

We’re excited to have Sunny as a part of our growing team at Fresh Truck! If you’re interested in getting involved with our work sign up to volunteer and keep an eye out for positions in the coming year.

Blog / Meet our new COO: Sunny Chen

New stops!

Blog / New stops!
This week Fresh Truck is rolling out two new neighborhood Weekly Market stops at Bowdoin Street Health Center and Orient Heights BHA!

Our Weekly Market program provides consistent access to fresh, affordable food options for neighborhoods that do not have brick and mortar grocery stores. We offer a variety of more than 3O fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items, all at a great price. We accept cash, credit, and EBT. All of our food is sourced fresh from Katsiroubas Brothers Wholesale or local farms — it is never donated or rescued.

Stop by any of our Weekly Market stops to pick up your groceries for the week!

Bowdoin Street Health Center – 23O Bowdoin Street – Thursdays 12:3O-2:3O
Orient Heights BHA – 38 Vallar Rd – Saturdays 4:OO-6:OO
Blog / New stops!