Published
June 30, 2025
Food insecurity affects millions of American households. On June 4, 2025, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation convened America’s leading businesses that are prioritizing and actively working on food insecurity for a virtual roundtable discussion on closing the food access gap.
A Growing Challenge, A Shared Responsibility
Today, community food systems are facing extraordinary pressure and experiencing the highest levels of food insecurity seen in more than a decade.
Additionally, agencies and organizations are experiencing higher operational costs, including increased expenses for transportation, refrigeration, critical supplies, and labor, further limiting their ability to effectively meet growing demand. These challenges underscore the necessity for immediate and innovative responses at local levels from both the private and public sectors.
Leveraging Core Capabilities
To respond to rising food insecurity, businesses are evolving from donors to designers of long-term solutions for food access.
For instance, PepsiCo’s Food for Good initiative leverages existing internal logistics and R&D to deliver fresh meals in insulated boxes designed to maintain freshness in high-heat environments for over 10 hours. Since its inception in 2010, the program has successfully provided 75 million meals and supported nearly 2 million children.
Similarly, Starbucks is revolutionizing food donations through its FoodShare Program, which uses a nationwide logistics network to ensure that all unsold food from stores is delivered each day to local food banks.
Starbucks amplifies its impact by reinvesting the tax benefits from food donations into capacity-building grants for nonprofit partners, illustrating how circular generosity can be integrated into a sustainable business model.
Investing Locally and Strategically
As companies recognize the importance of targeted investments, the roundtable participants highlighted strategic hyper-local partnerships as key to meaningful impact.
Walmart exemplifies the partnership approach, having donated over nine billion pounds of food to date and investing in critical local infrastructure such as refrigerator units and delivery vans. At dsm-firmenich North America, the company mobilizes employees to support neighborhood food banks and community organizations, demonstrating the growing shift toward tailored, community-specific solutions, especially in rural and underserved areas.
Building on a shared focus on rural communities, participants emphasized the need to better connect food security initiatives with broader health outcomes. For example, treating food as medicine—a model that recognizes food not only as a basic need but also as a form of preventative care—could help improve overall wellbeing. By aligning food distribution with healthcare delivery systems, businesses can help build stronger, more resilient infrastructure where medical services are limited.
Harnessing Cross-Sector Collaboration
Recognizing that no single sector can tackle food insecurity alone, the roundtable also emphasized the critical need for broadening private sector engagement across industries and business sizes. For example, Dollar General stores are in locations that often serve as the only outlet in the rural community that provides fresh food products, and leveraging other distribution networks for donations of unsold food could be a game changer.
Effective strategies to combat food insecurity must involve diverse sectors, including technology, finance, and logistics. Such cross-sector collaborations not only address immediate food needs but also align with broader health, workforce, and economic development goals.
Looking Ahead: Strategic Recommendations
Moving forward, participants outlined key strategic recommendations to address food insecurity:
- Stronger Public-Private Alignment: Participants affirmed that private sector initiatives must complement, not replace, federal nutrition programs like SNAP. Strengthening these public resources is vital for enduring food security.
- Invest in Local Capacity and Infrastructure: There is a pressing need for continued business investment in local food system infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Providing resources for cold storage, transportation, and staffing can significantly bolster these local systems.
- Broaden the Coalition and Drive Innovation: Participants urged increased collaboration with diverse sectors, including technology and finance, to drive innovative solutions. They recommended joint pilot projects, shared knowledge platforms, and strategic data-sharing initiatives to enhance targeted interventions.
- Share Best Practices: Many companies are focused on food insecurity in our country at local levels, and to the extent companies can effectively share best practices and swiftly adopt the good ideas, those in need can more consistently benefit. There is no intellectual property on a good idea.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation will continue working with the private sector to develop solutions, uniting business leaders, highlighting innovative strategies, and facilitating critical connections. By embracing innovation, collaboration, and strategic investment, businesses can play a transformative role in building a more resilient and food-secure future.
