The organization responsible for supplying New Yorkers with access to fresh produce at the greenmarkets is behind a new food hub opening in the Bronx. GrowNYC, which celebrated 40 years in Union Square this summer, will operate a 75,000-square-foot facility in Hunts Point that'll service restaurants and community groups with fresh, local produce. The $20 million facility will "dramatically increase the number of farmers we support and New Yorkers we help feed," president and chief executive Marcel Van Ooyen told the Times.
While mid-sized restaurants will have access to the new hub, poorer communities will also see the benefits of kale salads. The facility will help stock the kitchens of places like Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, which serves meals to the elderly, low-income kids and homeless women. There's been a vegetable-forward menu in operation there since 2011 thanks to a partnership with GrowNYC. "The food is markedly better," one beneficiary told the Times. "It's the difference between Tiffany's and Woolworth's."
The Hunts Point neighborhood already serves as a major food distribution hub and the city's investing some big money to make more improvements. The area will see an influx of $150 million to modernize the facilities and improve transportation in the largely isolated neighborhood.
