Counting Values: Food Hub Financial Benchmarking Study

September 23, 2015

New financial data from the emerging local food sector provides an in-depth look at the growth—and growing pains—of wholesale intermediaries called food hubs. These social enterprises combine food aggregation/distribution business services with programs that strengthen farmer capacity to supply nearby markets such as restaurants, grocery stores, schools, universities and hospitals.

The COUNTING VALUES: Food Hub Financial Benchmarking Study draws on financial and operational data from 48 of the more than 300 regional food hubs in the nation. The analysis uses an established benchmarking practice for comparing results within particular sectors to develop baseline performance measures.

Initially envisioned as a planning tool for hubs to benchmark their business performance against industry peers and find areas in need of improvement, COUNTING VALUES is taking on an additional larger purpose. Based on their review of preliminary findings, philanthropies, investors and lenders recognize the study’s wealth of data as a starting point to guide the flow of capital into the new local food sector.

Almost half of all hubs are less than five years old. During this time, many experienced double digit annual growth rates. More key findings below.


Tags: community food hubs

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