The supermarkets that dot so many subdivisions north of Interstate 30 are a luxury in places like South Dallas, where some residents have to hop on a bus or drive out of their way to get meat and fresh produce.
City council after city council has tried to bring grocery stores to southern Dallas by offering financial incentives. But this can’t just be an incentives game. Public subsidies to secure the opening of a grocery store don’t guarantee success. This is an industry of tight margins.
We understand why City Hall wants to bring supermarket locations, but southern Dallas needs solutions today. That’s why we are heartened by an expanding program in South Dallas led by local do-gooders Bonton Farms and Kroger called Grocery Connect. As our newsroom recently reported, the initiative allows South Dallas residents to order Kroger groceries online and have them delivered at a neighborhood hub once a week. Residents pay for their food, but Kroger waives the delivery fee.
This program is the result of the problem-solving mentality we need in southern Dallas. We can’t allow ourselves to become fixated on brick-and-mortar supermarkets as the only solution to food deserts. The people of Bonton Farms got it right when they recognized that their neighbors should be able to buy their groceries online like so many of us already do.
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“We all have to cross that bridge at some point when it comes to getting your groceries online,” said Sam Newman, executive director of Grocery Connect. “At some point, everyone will cross it. That’s just the way this industry is going.”
Bonton Farms and its partners understand that some residents need help getting comfortable ordering online, or even setting up an email address. People called “concierges” work with residents directly and help them set up accounts and figure out online ordering. Their services are funded through contributions from the Meadows Foundation, T.D. Jakes Foundation and Share Our Strength, a hunger-relief organization.
Residents can pick up their groceries on delivery day once a week at one of three locations: Innercity Community Development Corp., Dallas Bethlehem Center and the Bonton Wellness Center. The Kroger driver waits with customers’ groceries in a climate-controlled van.
John Votava, a Kroger spokesman, told us the timing of this initiative was serendipitous. The grocer launched a delivery service in the Dallas area in 2022 and built a fulfillment center in southern Dallas. It also started accepting electronic SNAP payments for grocery purchases.
“The folks that are ordering through Grocery Connect have the same access to groceries … as any other customer,” he said. “They have access to over 33,000 products.”
Grocery Connect serves about 100 customers a week. It’s a modest base, but we expect the program will grow as more residents become familiar with the service. We applaud Bonton Farms and its partners for looking past brick-and-mortar to bring South Dallas the services that residents deserve.