Harris Teeter has kicked off its 2026 Harvest Feast Round Up, asking shoppers at its more than 250 stores to round up transactions to the nearest dollar at checkout through Dec. 29, with all proceeds directed to local food bank and pantry partners across the grocer's eight-state footprint.
The campaign has now raised over $14 million in monetary donations since its launch in 2005 — a milestone that underscores the staying power of round-up mechanics as a grassroots fundraising tool in grocery and foodservice retail. Last year's Harvest Feast drive alone generated more than $820,000 from Harris Teeter customers and associates combined.
Local Alignment Model
What distinguishes the program operationally is its hyperlocal routing structure. Harris Teeter has aligned each of its 19 partner food banks and pantries with specific stores in their respective service areas, ensuring that dollars raised at a given location stay within that community. Danna Robinson, director of corporate affairs and customer relations for Harris Teeter, described the intent plainly: "Every dollar donated at checkout stays local, supporting food bank partners that serve families in the same community where the donation is made."
That store-level alignment model is an approach gaining traction across the broader grocery and hospitality sector as operators look for cause-marketing structures that resonate with increasingly community-minded consumers. Round-up campaigns require minimal friction for the shopper — a single confirmation tap at the POS — while generating meaningful aggregate donations at scale.
Operator Takeaways
For grocery and foodservice operators evaluating their own holiday-season giving programs, the Harris Teeter model offers a replicable framework: a defined campaign window, a straightforward checkout mechanic, partner organizations pre-mapped to store trade areas, and transparent communication that funds remain local. The Matthews, North Carolina-based chain, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kroger, employs 36,000 associates across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, and the District of Columbia — giving the campaign both geographic scale and community depth.
Robinson noted the campaign's strength comes from aligning three stakeholders — store associates, customers, and food bank partners — around a single, low-barrier action. That three-way engagement model is increasingly cited in restaurant and retail community investment discussions as a differentiator that builds brand loyalty while addressing food insecurity. With the holiday season intensifying demand at food banks nationally, the timing through Dec. 29 captures the period when both consumer generosity and community need tend to peak simultaneously.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
