Fresh produce access and food bank partnerships are gaining renewed focus across the grocery and foodservice sectors, and Harris Teeter is leaning into that trend with the 13th consecutive year of its Peaches with a Purpose campaign. The Kroger-owned regional grocer and South Carolina grower Titan Farms will donate 37,800 pounds of fresh peaches this August to Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, for distribution to families across the Carolinas.
Campaign Scale
Since the program launched in 2013, Titan Farms has donated an average of 35,000 pounds of peaches annually through the initiative — making this year's contribution above the program's historical average. Salem Transportation is once again donating its time and logistics services to haul the fruit from Titan Farms' South Carolina growing operations to the food bank, underscoring how multi-party supply-chain collaboration can amplify charitable impact in fresh produce distribution.
Operator Takeaways
"Access to fresh produce remains a significant need for many families," said Danna Robinson, director of corporate affairs and customer relations for Harris Teeter. "Through Peaches with a Purpose, we're able to help provide nutritious food while supporting the communities we call home." Chalmers Carr, CEO of Titan Farms — the largest peach grower on the East Coast, with more than 6,200 acres of peaches — framed the campaign as a proof point for what retailer-grower partnerships can accomplish beyond the shelf. "Fresh produce forms the foundation of healthy nutrition in food bank programs," Carr said, "and we're proud to provide our neighbors with the same high-quality, delicious peaches that grace family tables across the region."
For grocery operators and foodservice buyers, the campaign illustrates a durable model: a regional retailer anchors a long-term grower relationship around both commercial sourcing and community reinvestment. Programs like this one also respond to growing consumer and institutional pressure on supermarkets to address food insecurity with tangible, locally relevant action — not just financial donations. The logistics dimension, with a transportation partner covering last-mile delivery at no cost, keeps the full weight of the donation in the food bank's hands rather than offset by operational expenses. Industry observers tracking grocery community investment and food access initiatives will note that 13 consecutive years of participation makes Peaches with a Purpose one of the more durable produce-donation programs in the Southeast. Harris Teeter operates more than 250 stores across eight states and Washington, D.C., giving the campaign a broad retail footprint to amplify awareness even as the donation itself targets a single regional food bank network.
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.
