Grocery
Communities across the country are facing growing food access challenges. Rural stores are closing, urban neighborhoods remain food deserts, and traditional grocery models are under strain. Yet many communities also have powerful assets — local leadership, trusted operators, nonprofit partners, and underutilized facilities ready to be activated.
New Venture Advisors helps communities strengthen and redesign their grocery retail and food access systems. We work with grocery operators, public agencies, food banks, and nonprofit developers to evaluate feasibility, assess market conditions, and implement sustainable, community-centered solutions.
Our work goes beyond traditional grocery consulting. We support:
- Stabilization and repositioning of existing grocery stores
- Development of new retail models in underserved areas
- Corner store initiatives and small-format conversions
- Farm stops and aggregation-based retail
- Mobile markets and flexible distribution models
- Cooperative and nonprofit ownership structures
- Community food safety net strategies, including food clubs, mutual aid initiatives, and choice-based models
Whether advancing a single project or a community-wide strategy, we align business viability with public health, economic development, and long-term community resilience.
About Us
New Venture Advisors is a team of business consultants specializing in local food system planning and new enterprise development.
Grocery Projects
Clinton Hill Mutual Aid Grocery Store & Food Cooperative
Newark, NJ
In the Clinton Hill neighborhood, community-led grocery ventures are becoming a model for equitable food access. New Venture Advisors is partnering with Clinton Hill Community Action to develop both a mutual aid grocery and a food cooperative. The team designed and modeled multiple formats to align with community goals and facilitated engagement to build local leadership capacity. NVA also coached the launch of the mutual aid grocery, ensuring both initiatives are rooted in sustainability and local ownership. (2026)
Muskegon Food Club
Muskegon, MI
A multi-sector collaborative convened by Access Health, a nonprofit in Muskegon County, sought to assess the unique Michigan Food club model’s potential application in Muskegon. The model restores dignity and choice in addressing food insecurity. New Venture Advisors conducted a feasibility study for the proposed member-based Muskegon County Food Club, which allows residents to shop affordably in a traditional setting while promoting healthy selections. The team analyzed business models, financial feasibility, and site options using data from existing Food Clubs across the state. NVA also incorporated food reclamation and rescue strategies to enhance both community impact and long-term sustainability. (2025)
Wisconsin Food Banks Grocery Card Study
Milwaukee, WI
Two leading Wisconsin food banks are innovating new ways to improve accessibility and choice for rural residents. New Venture Advisors partnered with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin to design a payment system that enables neighbors to purchase fresh food directly from local grocers and retailers. Funded by the Alliant Energy Foundation, the pilot spans 35 counties with potential to expand statewide. NVA identified emerging technologies, developed partnerships, and created evaluation metrics to guide implementation and scale the program’s impact. (2025)
Food System Planning for the Waukegan Food Ecosphere
Waukegan, IL
Adelante Center for Entrepreneurship operates multiple social enterprises creating wealth, living wage jobs, and food security in distressed communities. New Venture Advisors provided comprehensive business planning, financial modeling, and strategic coaching that shaped Adelante’s integrated food ecosystem, helping develop strategies for the organization’s Garfield Produce Company (hydroponic microgreens operation), Post Marketplace Cafe, Post Pantry food delivery program, and plans for a flexible commercial kitchen supporting both catering operations and community programming. (2025)
Winchendon Grocery Development
Winchendon, MA
In the town of Winchendon, Massachusetts, community members rallied to restore local grocery access after the closure of their only store. New Venture Advisors partnered with Growing Places and HEAL Winchendon to conduct a feasibility study confirming strong support, viable business models, and sustainable sales potential. The team evaluated sites and partnerships, creating collaborative designs aligned with local goals. NVA also developed strategies to strengthen distribution networks and crafted short- and long-term plans for lasting success. Building on this work, NVA is supporting business model development and planning for two existing grocery operators in Winchendon—Not Just Produced and The FarmStand Winchendon—to strengthen their roles as sustainable local grocery resources for the community. (2026)
Project EATS
New York, NY
New Venture Advisors partnered with Project EATS, a neighborhood-based urban agriculture and social enterprise organization in New York City, to strengthen business operations and growth strategy across multiple boroughs. The team analyzed logistics, distribution, and facility constraints, then crafted strategies to diversify revenue, launch prepared foods, and expand market reach. The outcome: actionable operational plans that improved financial sustainability while staying rooted in the organization’s community mission. (2022)
Southern Illinois Mobile Market Feasibility Study
Chicago, IL
New Venture Advisors conducted a feasibility study for Faith in Place’s Southern Illinois Mobile Market initiative, which aims to expand healthy food access across 17 rural counties. NVA assessed community needs, partners, and service locations, and developed a plan and implementation toolkit to support a collaborative mobile market network that strengthens access while supporting local producers. (2024)
Detroit Food Commons Operating Plan
Detroit, MI
A landmark project for Detroit’s North End neighborhood, the Detroit Food Commons embodies community ownership and revitalization. New Venture Advisors supported the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and Develop Detroit in launching the $22 million, 31,000-square-foot facility featuring a co-op grocery, four incubator kitchens, office space, and a banquet hall. NVA developed an operating plan and detailed financial projections to ensure long-term sustainability and community alignment. NVA also built flexible models that balance subsidized access with market-rate pricing to promote equity and economic opportunity. (2024)
Crow Innovation Center Feasibility Study
Crow Agency, MT
On the Crow Indian Reservation, where food access declined following the loss of a local grocery, Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation partnered with New Venture Advisors to reimagine small business development and food access. NVA assessed the feasibility of a grocery store and business incubation center across two renovated buildings, developed financial models for construction and long-term sustainability, collaborated with an Indigenous-led design team, and trained local leaders in community engagement methods to co-create locally grounded solutions. (2023)
Healthy Corner Store Initiative Program Design
Wichita, KS
New Venture Advisors supported the City of Wichita in designing a Healthy Corner Store Initiative to improve access to healthy food in food desert neighborhoods. Building on recommendations from the Wichita/Sedgwick County Food System Master Plan, NVA partnered with The Food Trust to design a pilot program, develop a draft budget, and support the city’s RFP process to identify an implementing organization. (2023) Download plan here.
Shawnee Grocery Study
Shawnee, OK
New Venture Advisors supported Pogo, a community-wide wellbeing initiative, through a Healthy Food Financing Initiative technical assistance grant focused on local food access solutions. NVA helped align cross-sector stakeholders, evaluated the market feasibility of a grocery store, and developed a marketing strategy and pitch materials to present the opportunity to potential operators. (2022)
City of Wichita Food Access Strategy
Wichita, KS
New Venture Advisors supported the City of Wichita in addressing grocery store closures and limited access to nutritious food in low-income neighborhoods. NVA analyzed the drivers of urban food deserts, evaluated national best practices and retail business models, and helped inform the launch of Wichita’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative to strengthen neighborhood food access through existing stores. (2021)
Great Plains Food Bank Mobile Market
Fargo, ND
New Venture Advisors assessed the feasibility of a mobile market social enterprise for the Great Plains Food Bank, serving North Dakota and western Minnesota. Building on the food bank’s existing mobile pantry assets, NVA evaluated a model for selling fresh and shelf-stable foods—sourced from the food bank and regional producers—in communities without grocery stores. (2020)
Central Massachusetts Food Co-op Market Study
Worcester, MA
Central Mass Grown explored the establishment of a cooperative grocery store in Worcester, Massachusetts, to source from regional producers and engage farmers, makers, and shoppers as members. New Venture Advisors conducted a market feasibility study, identifying viable locations and opportunities to expand institutional, wholesale, and retail sourcing from local producers. (2019)
Kansas Statewide Food Distribution Study
Topeka, KS
The Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansans directs resources toward helping Kansans and Kansas communities achieve and maintain optimal health. Access to fresh food in the many rural communities across the state is of chief concern as grocery stores continue to shutter in small towns. Together with the Rural Grocery Initiative at K-State, Sunflower and New Venture Advisors assessed the food distribution landscape in Kansas to propose innovative, alternative strategies that will provide critical support to rural grocery stores throughout the state of Kansas. (2018)
Rural Grocery Food Hub Assessment
Beloit, KS
The North Central Regional Planning Commission of Kansas spearheaded a study to support rural growers, consumers and grocery stores in North Central Kansas. Its vision was to assist rural grocery stores in establishing a local food hub within their operation to bring them additional revenue, provide new sources of revenue for local producers, and bring more local agricultural products into the community. New Venture Advisors led the study, which began with grocery store owners conducting self-assessments using NVA’s Rural Grocery HubSizer® tool. (2017)
Rural Grocery Store Initiative
Kansas, Iowa, Michigan
Rural grocery stores are closing at an alarming rate. This study explored the feasibility of adapting these stores into food hubs, providing additional revenue streams and an additional inducement for distributors to service these remote locations to prevent closings. Funded in part through the USDA, New Venture Advisors conducted baseline feasibility analysis with 4 stores in 3 states. Results were published throughout 2016. (2016)
The Food Trust Small Store Initiative
Philadelphia, PA
New Venture Advisors assisted The Food Trust in conducting a national scan of distribution networks that serve small stores such as corner stores, bodegas, convenience stores, fuel-based retail and rural grocers. The project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, examined the supply chain that moves food from production to the point of consumption to better understand the barriers in bringing fresher and more nutritious foods to small stores. (2016)
