Creating Sustainability for Food Banks during COVID-19
OVERVIEW
Project Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed increased demands on food bank resources as they attempt to respond to the sudden increase in the quantity of people needing food assistance. One significant contributor to this issue is the lack of consistent food donations that Feeding America receives from large food distributors, such as Costco and Walmart.
We see an opportunity to fill this gap by exploring alternative donation methods for food banks, such as partnering with Chicagoland area food producers that may be experiencing a surplus in goods due to their own industries’ supply chain failures.
CLIENT
HCI 515: Design Ethnography
TOOLS
Adobe Creative Suite
RESEARCH
The Problem Space
Due to the pandemic, more people need access to emergency food services.
Society depends on just-in-time delivery for cost and efficiency.
Supply chain struggles to adapt to disruptions in labor or market demand.
Plenty of food to go around, but being wasted as supply chain breaks down.
RESEARCH
Research Objectives
During the exploratory research phase, we developed the following questions in order to scope our work.
SYSTEM DEPENDENCY
Where are the opportunities to improve the resiliency of food systems during pandemics?
What are the most critical positions and systems on which the supply chain is dependent?
FOOD WASTE + LIFE CYCLE
What current protocols do food producers and food banks take to minimize food waste?
What is the life cycle of food, from harvested product to kitchen table?
PLANNING + PROTOCOLS
How do local food producers plan and predict food production? What happens when there is an unexpected surplus or shortage of food produced?
Do food producers have emergency protocols in place to deal with highly disruptive events like pandemics?
RESEARCH
Research Methods
TARGET SAMPLE
We originally intended to interview a mix of the following knowledgeable individuals:
Two food production (the supply side)
Two food distribution (food bank side)
Two Subject Matter Experts (supply chain, process management, or food industry experts)
ACTUAL SAMPLE
During the pandemic, it was difficult to recruit enough of our target audience as the people in these roles are essential workers. We were able to interview the following individuals and include them in our sample:
One farmer (the supply side)
Two food distribution managers/VPs (food bank side)
One Subject Matter Expert (logistics analyst)
Since our target sample was not as large as we had planned, we supplemented our research with additional secondary research, webinars, and social media analysis.
Five video webinar sessions
Led by industry leaders and covering topics in the dairy industry, food safety and food insecurity.
Social media analysis
Examined trending conversations related to food supply and food production issues on Reddit
One contextual activity
We asked interviewees to document positive and negative situations in their day-to-day to provide additional context on shortcomings and successes experienced during the pandemic.
People need the right food at the right time
DISCOVERY
Key Findings & Observations
We used coding to pull out important pieces of our interview transcripts and identified key aspects of our supplemental research before utilizing affinity diagram synthesis to move towards abstracted overarching themes:
FOOD STANDARDS + QUALITY
Food banks have strict regulations on what can be donated. It needs to meet a high standard and quality
“We are not their garbage dump...we pay for garbage to be hauled away. Retailers are getting tax breaks for donating food, but we are not their dumping ground.” - p1, food bank
“Sometimes our donors don’t realize our process. They think...it’s food, we should take it and we have to think of food safety.” - p2, food bank
LACK OF PEOPLE POWER
Food supply chain workers are overwhelmed and understaffed
“I manage a fleet of truck drivers delivering food products...Since COVID...we’ve been busier than I’ve ever seen. Our freight volumes have increased by almost 20% week over week and it still continues to climb. Work has been stressful, I never have enough drivers to cover all of our freight and constantly have to request additional assets from other fleets in the area. Since our deliveries require specialized equipment this often means we have to take extra care to train new or ‘borrowed’ drivers before sending them out.”- Reddit user
CHALLENGES IN PLANNING + UNCERTAINTY OF FUTURE
Challenges in planning for the future because a situation of this magnitude and that impacts everyone has never been experienced before
“You always worry about tomorrow because we need to spend the money for now, you always worry if that {donation stream} is sustainable.” - p1, food bank
“One unknown...is our farmers. The gentleman who had a mushroom farm, he had to donate, does he start planting again for next year? You know, we have dairies that are dumping milk right now, what’s the plan for next year?” - p2, food bank
FLEXIBILITY IN RESPONSE + NEW PROCESSES
Organizations must quickly adapt to change and be flexible in new processes
“Messages need to be able to change quickly because approaches to risk management can be different than what was put out weeks ago.
We are sharing what we know today, but tempering it that it may change in the future.” - Dr. Ruth P., food safety SME
“A major challenge is to keep our routes efficient and cost effective, while keeping our drivers busy... COVID-19 has made this more challenging as we’ve had to cancel some routes and re-design our network to keep our costs down. ” - p3, supply chain SME
WORKPLACE PROTOCOLS
New workplace protocols are being put in place that impacts each entity of the food supply chain
“The most important thing is protection; making sure workstations are 6ft apart, have correct PPE. It is totally different than what it is before. During this whole thing I think people are seeing that they need others to collaborate with. ” - Ted B., supply chain SME
“While the farmer’s market is open, we are at risk for Covid-19 and morally don’t feel that it is responsible to ask others to come and work on the farm.” - p4, farmer
FOOD DISTRIBUTION & DONATIONS
Food banks are experiencing an increase in need while food donations decline
“Paying someone to make cheese with your milk that could be donated in plants. Then you have plants open, get people working, feed the hungry. Especially if we are looking at more unemployment wouldn't it be a win win? Get people working, get the product off farmers hands?” - Dr. Andrew N., dairy industry SME
“We knew we had 812,000 people and right now we can’t even count who we have...we have people coming to us right now who have never had to do this before. Have never had to ask for help with food.” - p2, food bank
“Before Covid, 60% of our food was recovered, we did over 120 pickups to local retailers [...] We are not recovering much food anymore.”
p1, food bank
IDEATION
Design Criteria
From our observations and key findings, we developed the following design criteria.
To be successful, a solution MUST...
1 Allow users to connect with new donation sources to avoid single points of failure
2 Communicate food banks donation regulations/guidelines to streamline the donation process and reduce food waste
3 Streamline processes and ensure low-touch work
4 Support on-demand planning as the landscape evolves/changes
To be successful, a solution SHOULD...
1 Automate systems that offload manual and administrative labor
2 Give users a sense of control
3 Communicate local and federal guidelines concerning personal and operational safety
4 Update and adapt to be able to work for unforeseen circumstances now and in future
IDEATION
Design Concept
Matchmaker app for food banks and donors
Through the app, food banks input their donation requirements with a list of needed goods
Donors like farmers, stores and restaurants, download the app when they have a surplus and want to avoid food waste
Donors qualify info about their donation, and then are matched with an organization who needs those goods
When a donation request matches a need, the app organizes transportation to deliver the donation
IDEATION
Concept Features and Benefits
FEATURE Food banks input donation needs to be matched with donor supply
BENEFIT Allows for variety/flexibility in donation partners; Matches based on data like distance, amount, food age
FEATURE Food banks can input food donation requirements
BENEFIT Removes or reduces calls and donation vetting process; automatically matches to reduce product waste
FEATURE Donors input goods available for donation to be matched with need
BENEFIT Provides donors with organizations who need their donation, removing manual research work
FEATURE Organizes transportation through questions to be answered by both parties
BENEFIT Helps qualify donation to coordinate and optimize donation transportation, even through outside vendors
FEATURE When new needs arise, both parties can update needs & requirements
BENEFIT Allows for meeting new demands & adapting to changes in real-time
FEATURE Scan packaged food items to verify expiration date/food safety for products
BENEFIT Streamline processes by automatically validating products to be donated
“Food is a right, not a privilege.”
p1, Food Bank
REFLECTION
Future Work
Design lo-fi prototype
Meet with food producers and food banks to see if this is a viable product to solve pain points experienced during the pandemic.