'Veggie Express' brings grocery store on wheels to urban food deserts

Grocery store on wheels helps those living in urban 'food deserts'

A company called GoodPluck found a way to eliminate food deserts with a grocery store on wheels called Veggie Express.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A grocery store on the go brings fresh fruits and vegetables to neighborhoods in need, combating urban food deserts.

"A lot of people don’t have cars even in Detroit, and getting out to get fresh, affordable fruit and veggie is pretty hard," said Chening Duker, founder and CEO of GoodPluck.

A company called GoodPluck found a way to eliminate food desserts, economically with a grocery store on wheels, "Veggie Express."

"Let’s scale down the model and make it super-efficient," Duker said. "We have an electric vehicle that costs almost nothing to run and then we pack the veggies right onto shelving on the vehicle and bring it here."

The Veggie Express on Monday was at Clement Kern Gardens Apartments in Corktown where families lined up to get what they can’t find in their communities.

"Right now there’s no local grocery store in walking distance, so it’s kind of helpful and I pack lunch," said Grace Horton. "I pack lunch and of course fruits and vegetables go bad fast, so this is very convenient for us."

GoodPluck partners with an EV startup to keep it in motion, and Black-owned, urban farmers and food distributors provide nutritious foods to keep the vehicle stocked.

"My company is a produce-delivery service, so we work with a lot of small farms in Detroit and around Detroit," said Duker.

The grocery store on wheels not only provides access to foods but if helps keep them affordable.

"(For $3) I have two potatoes, two bananas, three stacks of corn, and a bag of my favorite sweet plums," said Denisha Brannon.

Detroit’s Good Pluck a startup at Newlab at Michigan Central, where the goal is to provide solutions to mobility challenges.

"With Newlab we created a set of pilots with City Of Detroit to help solve mobility challenges that Detroiters are facing," said Roshni Shokarm, Michigan Central.

These residents say this grocery store on wheels concept, is just what they were searching for

"We’re very community-driven trying to make something that’s valuable," said Duker.