Community Programs

The SF Market leverages our scale and unique industry position to support a healthier, sustainable, and fair food system.

Alongside the successful operation and development of The SF Market as a vibrant, thriving, sustainable food center, we leverage our position in the food system to do good through our community programs. Through our programs, The SF Market expands access to healthy food while lifting up local food economies.

The SF Market Food Recovery Program

The SF Market’s award-winning Food Recovery Program works with 15 of the independent merchant businesses to connect their surplus food with local community organizations. Each day the program provides Bay Area neighbors with fresh donated produce and other food increasing access to healthy food throughout our region.

Food recovery is also an important tool in mitigating the climate change impacts of our food system. When food is thrown away, the resources used to grow that food are also wasted. Food recovery makes sure good food gets eaten.  Food recovery supports our merchant businesses too. These family-owned businesses operate on narrow margins and food recovery saves them money on waste disposal fees and frees up valuable space in their warehouses.

Food Recovery by the Numbers

Our impacts since we started the program in August 2016.

COVID-19 Emergency Food Program

When food insecurity became increasingly urgent as a result of COVID-19, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and Crankstart Foundation quickly responded to support The SF Market's Emergency Food Program. This support allowed The SF Market to deepen partnerships between our merchants and community organizations, ultimately facilitating the purchase of millions of pounds of fresh, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and urgently needed produce and staples for food-insecure residents across San Francisco. 

Since early 2020, the Emergency Food Program has helped distribute more than 400,000 prepared meals and grocery bags to food insecure residents across San Francisco.

The SF Market Program Partners

We are grateful to our community and merchant partners, as well as those who fund our work. Our reach and impact would not be possible without them.

Community Partners

Current Partners:

Past Partners: 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic; Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates; Carecen SF; San Francisco City Impact; Double Rock Baptist Church  Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco (ECS); Florence Fang Community Farm; Fraternite Notre Dame; Free the Need; Gazzali's Supermarket; Health RIGHT 360; Homeless Prenatal Program; HOMEY;  Jelani House; La Raza Community Resource Center; Leah's Pantry; Martin de Porres; Mission Meals Coalition Community Fridge; Replate; SF DPH Pop-Up Testing Sites and Food Pharmacies; SF New Deal; Southeast Health Center; SisterWeb; St. Timothy; The Women's Building of San Francisco; Third Baptist Church San Francisco; Turn On To America (TOTA); WISE Health; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital 5M Clinic

Merchant Partners

For a complete list of SF Market Merchants, please visit our merchant directory.

Supporters

The SF Market Food Recovery Program is generously funded by the San Francisco Department of Environment Zero Waste Grant Program, the Clif Family Foundation, and Amazon.

The SF Market COVID-19 Emergency Food Program was generously supported by the San Francisco Department of Public Health and Crankstart Foundation.

Market Tours: Building Connections for a
Fair Food System

The SF Market Educational Tour Program introduces a range of audiences and community members to the role The SF Market plays in our regional food economy and shares the unique context of the early morning produce hub. 

Our visitors include public officials and policymakers, community partners, food industry representatives, workforce development organizations, local food systems leaders, culinary students, and other individuals and groups who have a stake in the offerings and future of The SF Market. 

While the majority of these tours were paused during the pandemic, they are once again available on a limited basis with all CDC-recommended safety protocols in place. If you are interested in bringing a group to The SF Market, please contact Carolyn Lasar, Program Manager.

Being a Good Neighbor

The SF Market has a long-standing commitment to the Bayview Hunters Point community which has been our home for over 60 years. 

In addition to prioritizing our Bayview Hunters Point partnerships in our Food Recovery and Emergency Food Programs, we also provide donations of healthy produce to community groups events happening in our neighborhood.

To request a donation, please email Program Manager Carolyn Lasar. 

The SF Market staff also plays an active role in coalitions working together to increase access to healthy food in San Francisco. These have included Healthy SouthEast, Healthy Retail SF Program, and San Francisco’s Food Security Taskforce.

Sustainability at The SF Market

The SF Market leverages our position in the food system to scale sustainable impact. We were partners in the City of San Francisco’s pilot program for municipal composting in 1996, and we have been leaders in the drive towards composting and zero waste ever since. We work daily to reduce the amount of food that needs to be composted through our Food Recovery Program. We collect hard-to-recycle materials like plastic shrink wrap from merchants and implement systems to recycle or re-purpose these materials that wouldn’t be feasible on the scale of individual businesses. In 2015, the SF Market opened the first 100% food-focused LEED-gold certified building in the Bay Area. Together we work to make our corner of the food system more efficient and sustainable.