Retail Landscape and Local Food Integration

Retail outlets serve as the primary access points for food in Orange County, ranging from full-service supercenters and grocery stores to limited-assortment venues like convenience and dollar stores. While chain grocery stores dominate the market, they often lack a significant inventory of local products. Transitioning retail procurement toward local sources remains a complex challenge, primarily due to:

• Seasonality: Fluctuating production patterns that disrupt year-round availability.
• Supply Consistency: Inadequate volume to reliably meet high-volume shelf demands.
• Pricing Volatility: Higher and more variable costs compared to industrial supply chains.
• Logistics: Infrastructure hurdles regarding standardized packaging and distribution.

The Role of Cooperatives and Aggregators

Food cooperatives, most notably Weaver Street Market (which operates three locations in Orange County), navigate these same systemic hurdles. However, Weaver Street differentiates itself by centering local procurement within its core mission. By prioritizing a diverse range of local goods—including meat, dairy, produce, eggs, and artisanal home goods—the cooperative pushes the boundaries of the traditional retail business model to support regional producers.

To bridge the gap between farm and shelf, local aggregators and food hubs like Farmer Foodshare play a critical role. They mitigate the logistical burdens on individual farmers by coordinating the scale and distribution required to make local food viable for retail environments.

EBT Accessibility and Online Integration

Technological advancements have significantly enhanced food access by enabling grocery stores and cooperatives to integrate online ordering with Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) payments for SNAP/FNS recipients. Since early 2022, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has expanded the FNS Online Purchasing program to include a wider array of retailers, allowing residents to use their benefits for both delivery and pickup . In Orange County, this digital access is available through major retailers such as Aldi, Food Lion, and Walmart, as well as through Amazon for online delivery. Other participating retailers across the state now include BJ's Wholesale Club, Publix, Carlie C’s, Compare Foods Clayton, Deep Roots Market, Earth Fare, and specific Piggly Wiggly locations. This expansion is a vital development for residents facing transportation or mobility barriers, as it allows them to leverage federal benefits within a modern, flexible retail environment while minimizing the logistical challenges of traditional in-person shopping .

The Impact of Restaurants on the Local Food System

In 2024, 124 full-service restaurants served the residents of Orange County, acting as vital engines for the regional economy. Beyond providing meals, these establishments serve as essential platforms for food entrepreneurship, job creation, and expanded market access for area farmers.

By highlighting local ingredients on their menus, these restaurants bridge the gap between producers and the public, fostering consumer awareness regarding the environmental and nutritional benefits of "eating local."

Key Drivers of Local Sourcing

While procurement volumes vary across the industry, a significant number of Orange County chefs prioritize local sourcing for two primary reasons:

• Superior Quality: The freshness and flavor profile of North Carolina-grown produce and meats often surpass industrial alternatives.
• Strategic Branding: Utilizing local sourcing as a core marketing strategy resonates with the community’s values, building brand loyalty and a distinct "sense of place”.

Labor in Food Retail

Employment in food preparation and sales represents a large portion of Orange County’s workforce. While wages in these occupations vary widely, a clear gap exists: higher-level positions such as managers typically meet living wage standards, while support staff like cooks often earn less than the state average. According to JobsEQ®, 4,648 people in Orange County worked in restaurants and eating establishments in 2024, earning an average annual wage of $26,413. Most of these positions are in food preparation and serving functions.

Direct-To-Consumer Markets

While food in retail and restaurant sectors typically undergoes extensive processing, packaging, and distribution before reaching the plate, Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) markets—such as farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) arrangements—create a streamlined path from producer to individual. This model is rapidly gaining momentum in Orange County; according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture, the number of farms reporting DTC sales grew by 16% between 2012 and 2022. More impressively, the total value of these sales surged from $1.422 million to $2.949 million, representing a 107% increase over the decade. This growth highlights a robust demand for local sourcing among urban residents and local businesses eager to support the regional economy. The financial benefits also extend far beyond the initial sale: according to the Local Food Impact Calculator, when factoring in indirect effects like local hiring and marketing expenditures, the total estimated economic impact of direct farm sales in Orange County reaches $4,572,012.11.

Farmers’ Markets

Orange County is home to three primary farmers’ markets that serve as vital hubs for locally produced goods. While the county is also dotted with individual farm stands, these three organized markets collectively host a rotating roster of over 130 farms, food producers, artisans, and service-based entrepreneurs.

Expanding Food Access

A core mission of these markets is to increase accessibility for all community members, particularly low-income residents. To achieve this, the markets utilize a central point-of-sale (POS) system. This allows vendors to participate without the financial burden of individual processing equipment. Each market accepts SNAP/EBT card payments.

The Double Bucks Program

All three markets participate in the Double Bucks incentive program. This initiative allows SNAP recipients to double their purchasing power—up to $25—when buying healthy, eligible foods.

Note: Because the Double Bucks program relies on a combination of grants, local partnerships, and private donations, its scale and availability are subject to funding levels on an annual basis.

Farm-to-School

The Orange County Schools (OCS) School Food Authority (SFA) stands out as a regional leader in farm-to-school (F2S) integration, maintaining active programs for over a decade. This longevity is notable; while OCS has exceeded the 10-year mark, only 23.8% of SFAs statewide share this level of experience. During the 2022-2023 academic year, OCS achieved 100% participation across its 13 schools.

While North Carolina’s use of local foods in the National School Lunch Program (55.6%) aligns closely with the national average (57.2%), OCS distinguishes itself through its summer meal program. OCS is among the 35% of North Carolina SFAs—and 56% of SFAs nationwide—to maintain local food procurement during the summer months, addressing a significant gap in statewide summer meal quality.

Educational Engagement and Strategy

OCS utilizes a multi-faceted approach to student engagement, including:

• Behavioral Interventions: Taste tests, cooking demonstrations, and the use of "food coaches" to encourage student selection of local items.
• Experiential Learning: Field trips to local farms and community food assets.
• Promotional Branding: Leveraging National Farm to School Month and social media to build program awareness.

As of the 2022-2023 school year, 46.2% of OCS schools provided formal food, nutrition, or agricultural education—slightly above the state average of 42.1%. However, this data reveals a clear opportunity for expansion, as seven schools within the district did not yet offer these educational components.

Procurement, Funding, and Impact

OCS procurement has focused mainly on local produce, with the highest expenditures dedicated to apples and broccoli. According to the Farm to School Census, these efforts have yielded documented benefits, including increased fruit and vegetable consumption, higher meal participation rates, and improved access to high-quality ingredients, all while supporting the local agricultural economy.

Funding is currently sustained through USDA Farm to School Grants and private foundations.

Gap Analysis and Opportunities for Improvement

Despite OCS’s strong foundation, the assessment identifies three primary areas for growth:

• Scratch Cooking and Processing: Currently, only 0-25% of menu items are made from scratch. Increasing this percentage would allow for better integration of local meats and raw produce but would require a strategic investment in kitchen infrastructure and labor training.
• Consistency of Service: Local foods are not yet a daily or weekly staple; local fruits appear a few times per month, while local vegetables are served on a monthly basis.
• Supply Chain Diversification: OCS currently relies on large-scale distributors and the USDA DoD Fresh Program. Partnering with local food hubs, such as Farmer Foodshare in neighboring Durham County, could provide a more direct pipeline for produce grown specifically within Orange County.

While Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) has faced significant hurdles in local food availability—reporting zero direct dollars spent on local procurement in 2022-2023—the district excels in culinary execution and educational outreach. Despite these supply chain challenges, CHCCS maintains a higher rate of scratch cooking and a greater educational reach than OCS. To overcome procurement barriers, CHCCS leverages its contract with Chartwells to bid out specific items, making it easier for local food hubs and smaller retailers to offer aggregated products at competitive prices. This strategic bidding has allowed items like local apples, cheese, and salad mixes to reach student plates. Ultimately, while OCS leads in procurement volume, it could look to the CHCCS model of kitchen-based preparation and vendor diversification to further enhance the quality and 'freshness' of its own local offerings. County government and school systems might also consider other strategies for food preparation and local sourcing in the future through a centralized kitchen model, such as what is present in Gaston County.

Regional Collaboration with TriCOG Feeds Initiative

Orange County has historically led in efforts to expand local and regional food systems planning and development. In addition to the many resources located within the County, it has participated and supported regional efforts. One major effort has been the Tri-COG Food Ecosystem Economic Development Strategy (Tri-COG FEEDS) . Initiated in 2022 as an outgrowth of numerous local and regional food systems development efforts the goal of Tri-COG FEEDS was to identify the infrastructure needed to shorten food supply chains, drive economic development, enhance resilient practices, foster equity, and increase rural-urban connectivity in the region served by three councils of government (COGs) in Central and Eastern North Carolina: Upper Coastal Plain, Central Pines, and Kerr-Tar. The project brought together government, community, research, business, and foundation partners to take a regional approach to food systems-driven economic development.

The aspirational future state of the Tri-COG food system is equitable and resilient—achieving these dual goals by regionalizing value chains presents economic and social opportunities for the region. Increasing the amount of direct-to-consumer food sales from $54 million (current) to $6.6 billion (65% of the region’s total food spending) would have a total economic impact of $10.7 billion on the Tri-COG region. An infrastructure assessment based on the Community Capitals framework found that rural and urban regions tend to have different infrastructure strengths, so working together across geopolitical boundaries is beneficial. The types of infrastructure or capital that were examined included built, natural, financial, social, cultural, and human.

Potential beneficial impacts across the region and in Orange County, include:

• Equitable participation and asset ownership
• Economically and ecologically sustainable, adaptive, regional value chains.
• Abundant, high-quality and diverse, rural-urban and cross-sector connections.
• Appropriate technical assistance, financing mechanisms, and business development support for growers and food entrepreneurs.
• Financially and logistically accessible production, aggregation, processing, distribution, and transportation infrastructure for growers and food entrepreneurs.

For more information on Tri-COG FEEDS, visit https://tri-cog-feeds-ucpcog.hub.arcgis.com/.