A QR code on a bag of mandarins is now capable of triggering a meal donation — and Poppies® Mandarins, a brand of family-owned California citrus grower Kings River Packing, LP, is betting that retail shoppers will scan their way to feeding neighbors. Through its Grown to Share program, the brand expects to help provide up to 450,000 meals for food-insecure families before the campaign closes in mid-September 2026.

How the Program Works

Participating Brookshire Grocery Co. stores across East Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas are stocking specially marked Poppies Grown to Share bags through mid-September. Each scan of the on-pack QR code unlocks a Poppies-funded donation of at least 10 meals through the Feeding America® network of local partner food banks. The mechanic requires no purchase beyond the product itself — a frictionless engagement model that retailers and CPG brands have increasingly adopted to drive both trial and cause-aligned brand equity.

The campaign launched with a hands-on activation: on August 25, representatives from Poppies and Brookshire Grocery Co. joined 34 volunteers at the East Texas Food Bank to pack more than 5,700 food packs for children returning to school across East Texas. Poppies also made a $10,000 cash donation to the food bank to support the effort.

Retail & Operator Implications

"Children notice the little things we do every day," said Julie Dunmire, Director of Marketing for Kings River Packing. "We love that choosing a lunchbox favorite can become a simple act of sharing. Through Grown to Share, families can make an impact with a scan, and we're proud to partner with Brookshire Grocery Co. and Feeding America to make that possible."

For grocery operators and foodservice buyers, the Grown to Share model illustrates a broader shift in how produce brands are differentiating at retail. Cause marketing tied to measurable outcomes — meals delivered, volunteers mobilized, dollars donated — is increasingly a factor in category reset decisions, particularly for fresh fruit segments competing for prominent shelf placement and in-store signage support. The back-to-school window, when families are actively restocking lunchbox staples, is a natural fit for produce brands looking to boost household penetration.

Poppies Mandarins' regional focus on the Brookshire footprint also reflects a strategic approach to localized activations: rather than a broad national rollout, the brand concentrated resources in a defined geography where it could document community impact — a model restaurant and hospitality operators and grocery chains alike have found resonates with both consumers and local media. The fresh produce category continues to attract this kind of purpose-driven programming, as explored in food and beverage industry trend coverage tracking how growers are building direct consumer relationships beyond the produce aisle.

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.