Food Banks and the Dollar Tree Logistics System

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Case Study
Brazos Valley Food Bank Case
Relevance of Food Banks
Food banks form an important aspect of logistics and supply of surplus food products by acquiring and delivering them to individuals who may be in need. Such organizations engage different sectors, including government and private actors who may have an excessive supply of food or resources. Consequently, any donated food from partners can be channeled appropriately to the necessary agencies or groups that offer food to the hungry. Therefore, food banks are essential non-profit conduits that enable effective food distribution across a country to allow all individuals to have the basic need of food.
The Brazos Valley Food Bank was used as a central location serving six counties in Texas. Being a registered charitable organization, the food bank was responsible for reducing and ultimately eliminating hunger in the region through its operations. Further, it also provided educational resources to its partners to find solutions to the hunger problem affecting individuals in urban and rural areas (Vestal, Vanajakumari, and Kumar). Solving the hunger problem and alleviating food wastage were the foremost objectives of the food bank. Some of the program's beneficiaries included vulnerable populations such as children in public schools, senior citizens, and the homeless.
Brazos Valley Food Bank Supply Chain
The Brazos food bank mainly served six counties, including Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Madison, Washington, and Robertson. The majority of the food donations originated from the Houston Food Bank that distributed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) commodities. This included a weekly truck delivery from the food bank with a variety of assorted products. This forms the majority of the food donations received by Bravos Food Bank, accounting for approximately 6% of distributions in the region (Vestal, Vanajakumari and Kumar). Additionally, Brazos Valley Food Bank also received monthly deliveries from HEB that were reclaimed from the shelves. The donation consisted of food products and other items such as toys and electronics. Apart from that, other donations were received from companies such as Wal-Mart, Kruger, and community food drives hosted periodically in the region. These were complemented by individual donations by community members spread throughout the year.
Brazos Valley Food Bank also conducted fundraising sessions to raise money for expenses incurred in the organization's day-to-day operations. Due to limited funding, the food bank had to solicit funds from the community and any other institutions to ensure smooth running and maintain operations, including the wages of administrative staff and other employees (Vestal, Vanajakumari and Kumar). Additionally, such fundraisings were further used to purchase food to complement the received donations.
Brazos supplied food through partner agencies that placed the orders of any food products they needed either weekly or monthly. The food bank had twenty-four partner agencies spread across the six counties it served in the Texas area. The orders were then delivered by the food bank’s staff or picked up by the agencies themselves in accordance with their individual schedules. Ultimately, the food reached the needy people through these partner agencies that were either religious-affiliated or community-supported.
Operational Challenges faced by the Food Bank
A major operational challenge that Brazos Valley Food Bank faced was the lack of proper planning based on the inconsistency of produce and cash received from donations. Therefore, this created a problem in assessing the supply and demand needs of both their partners and suppliers. As a result, the organization was struck with many efficiencies in the distribution of products to the required partners. More so, with the significant number of unsolicited donations received across different periods of the year, planning became difficult, worsening the problems.
Apart from that, the food bank lacked automation and up-to-date systems in their facilities. The use of manual processes in the packaging and movement of products across the warehouse led to the wastage of time and overworked workforce required to handle the workload on a daily basis. More so, the lack of freezer and cooler systems prevented the long-term storage of perishables in the warehouse (Vestal, Vanajakumari and Kumar). With a significant amount of food shipped to the facility close or nearing their expiry date, modern equipment was required to hasten the inventory and distribution system of the foodbank.
More so, the executive director of the food bank spent a significant amount of time looking for additional resources to sustain processes in the facility. Monetary contributions formed a significant portion of the operational aspects, such as administrative costs. Therefore, with the available money allocated to activities such as the delineation of items donated to the food bank, little was...