The Tulsa Cooperative Regional Food Hub

The Problem

There are many agencies, organizations, and independent grocers across the Central and Northeast Oklahoma regions devoted to fighting food insecurity and increasing retail food access, and whose programs and enterprises can be strengthened through partnerships and collaboration. But, supply chain challenges present significant obstacles for these organizations and businesses, especially around meeting buying minimums of traditional food distributors.

The Solution

Seeing this community need, several Tulsa stakeholders including RG Foods Inc., Food On The Move, Fresh RX and the Tulsa Farmers Market have come together to complete a feasibility study in forming a potential regional food hub (referred to as the “Tulsa Cooperative Food Hub'') that could build a supply chain outside of the traditional food distributors – a hybrid of sourcing local and traditional systems – in order to support small- to medium-sized food retail stores as well as local farmers and food producers.

The business application of this solution would look like a jointly owned and operated warehouse that could enable group purchasing and coordinated warehousing and distribution among its membership as well as coordinating deliveries and backhauling with non-member food access organizations that are part of the regional food system stretching from Oklahoma City through Muskogee to northwest Arkansas.

“The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a greater capacity for sourcing healthy food and personal items from local producers and create a means of delivery to organizations and areas where it’s needed the most. ”

The benefits of a regional food hub include:

  • We can create of a buying network that would benefit members with coordinated purchasing of fresh and shelf-stable items from a combination of local growers and makers as well as distributors.

    Then coordinate distribution of goods from local purveyors to a network of local wholesale buyers, food retailers, and regional food access partners.

  • A centralized location for the aggregation (warehousing, sorting, picking, packing, etc.) of local products that could be utilized by all members.

  • Increase food access and partnerships throughout our regional food system by coordinating deliveries and backhauls with non-member food access organizations stretching from Oklahoma City through Muskogee to Northwest Arkansas.

The Work

This project is in the phase of market analysis and community engagement that includes the completion of public surveys and preliminary interviews with potential partners (both food buyers and producers) that will help us determine member needs for such a facility and program.

We are currently accepting survey responses from food suppliers and buyers. Use the QR codes below to complete the appropriate survey and/or check back here for more information as the project progresses for results and next steps.

If you are a food access organization, restaurant, food retailer or grocery store, etc., use your phone to scan this QR code or visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TulsaFoodHubBuyers to complete our food buyers’ needs assessment survey.

If you are a farmer, food producer or supplier, use your phone to scan this QR code or visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TulsaFoodSuppliers to complete our food suppliers’ needs assessment survey.

Have questions or are interested in joining our stakeholder group, sponsoring, or partnering with us as part of this project? Please email info@rgfoods.net for more information.