THE
WAVE MARKETPLACE
The goal of The Wave Marketplace is to connect
historically underrepresented food producers with business support and large-scale food service & retail outlets
Removing Barriers and Integrating Supply Chains
Rural, women, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) food producers have few opportunities to access high-profit food markets. The Wave Marketplace empowers a more just, resilient, and self-sustaining food system by connecting these food producers and entrepreneurs to business support, supply chains, and buyers.
Through a practice of listening and learning,
The Wave Foundation has built deep connections with BIPOC and rural communities through its Food Program, which prioritizes sourcing from these providers and providing healthy, sustainable, and culturally relevant foods to these communities.
The Wave Marketplace is a mixed-mode platform for creating fully integrated, values-based supply chains that link these producers with both direct markets and intermediary buyers (local, regional, and national), such as:
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DELAWARE NORTH
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COMPASS GROUP
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SODEXO
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RESTAURANT ASSOCIATES
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UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES
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BUSINESS & INDUSTRY CAMPUSES
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LARGE EVENT VENUES
Including professional sports stadiums, amphitheaters,
convention centers, zoos, and aquariums
By connecting these food producers and entrepreneurs to business support, supply chains, and buyers, The Wave Marketplace will empower more just, resilient, and self-sustainable food systems.
Sustained Support
Once established, The Wave Marketplace will foster multiple supply chains, providing self-sustaining economic development. In addition, food producers and entrepreneurs will have access to many types of business and supply chain support, including
Sales
Packaging
Liability
insurance
Certifications
Compliance requirements
Value-added processing
Working
capital
Warehousing
Branding and marketing, including curation and development
In collaboration with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health
The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health marks a significant step in combating systemic disparities in the United States. This conference became an emphasis of Congress and the Biden Administration as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed the broken state of the nation’s food systems.