Rethink Food Acquires Wellfare to Streamline Operations, Expand Reach

Rethink Food, a New York City-based nonprofit that partners with local restaurants and donors across the food system, announced today it has acquired nonprofit food box service Wellfare to advance its mission of creating a more sustainable and equitable food system.

“This strategic collaboration will allow us to streamline operations, expand our reach and make a greater impact on food-insecure communities across New York City,” said Matt Jozwiak, founder and CEO of Rethink Food, in a LinkedIn announcement.

As of 2023, 47.4 million Americans, or 13.5% of households, were food insecure, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Meanwhile, the U.S. throws away nearly 160 billion pounds of food – roughly 35% of the country’s food supply.

Launched in 2021 by Cole Riley, Wellfare aimed to combat food insecurity by distributing “Better Boxes” filled with better-for-you (BFY), shelf-stable grocery items to three New York City neighborhoods – East Harlem, Bushwick and the Lower East Side – each month at no cost to its recipient families.

Wellfare delivered nearly $7 million in groceries to 2,400 families and secured 150 CPG donation partners, including KIND, Banza, RIND, Lemon Perfect, Aura Bora and more. Riley said the nonprofit chose to focus on BFY brands because it was an untapped opportunity to deliver impact to food-insecure families.

“We became a pipeline for these types of brands to reach this underserved population, and to make a dramatic impact on the sugar intake of families dealing with chronic health conditions,” said Riley. “This focus was entirely unique and served as a fantastic complement to the other food nonprofits focused on produce, dairy and grains.”

According to a LinkedIn post by Riley, the opportunity to write the next chapter of Wellfare’s story came about over the summer while speaking with Jozwiak. Through the acquisition, Wellfare will leverage its brand partner community in a new way.

“Wellfare has been delivering impact for food-insecure communities for the past four years, and along the way forging one of the most impressive brand partnership rosters in the country,” Riley told Nosh in an email. “The time was now to evolve our organization, join a much larger operation like Rethink Food, and help amplify the impact these brands are capable of.”

Rethink Food will incorporate the impactful partnerships that powered Wellfare’s Better Box into its existing meal-making operations, according to Riley. From products that can be cooked down – including pasta, flour, sauces and spreads – to snacks and beverages that complement meals, he says there’s “plenty of opportunity to take Rethink Food’s programs to another level.”

Founded in 2017, Rethink Food partners with restaurants to deliver over 40,000 nutritious meals per week across New York City and Miami. Since its inception, the organization has prepared over 29 million meals for local communities and rescued over 2.6 million pounds of excess food.

As part of the acquisition, Riley will join Rethink Food as director of corporate partnerships. In this role, he will continue to engage CPG brands and other mission-driven corporates across the country to develop social impact partnerships for product, volunteering and more.

“My goal is to continue building on the incredible work accomplished with Wellfare’s partner community, and to engage a new crop of companies and brands eager to support Rethink Food’s programming and long-term aim of creating a more sustainable and equitable food system,” said Riley.

“Cole’s leadership and the innovative Better Box program have already delivered over $6.7 million in nutritious groceries to food-insecure families across NYC. Together, we’ll push the boundaries of what’s possible to address food insecurity,” said Jozwiak in his LinkedIn post.