Gannon Students Present Proposal to Help Alleviate Downtown Food Desert
Posted: April 28, 2016Students from Gannon University will present their business
proposal for a possible fresh food hub on Tuesday, April 29 at 11
a.m. in Room 300 of the Center for Business Ingenuity at 900 State
Street. The students have been working throughout the Spring 2016
semester in their Business Policy class on this service-learning
project led by John Buchna, Chief Executive Officer of the Erie
Downtown Partnership.
The goal of the project is to establish a fresh food hub at the
Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority's (EMTA) headquarters in Erie's
downtown. The area surrounding the headquarters building has been
identified as one of seven food deserts in the city. A food desert
is an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or
good-quality fresh food.
The Gannon students have been offering support by providing a
confidential business management consulting service to Buchna and
the Erie Downtown Partnership. The project consists of 20 graduate
and undergraduate students. The graduate project team has six
members who have been responsible for completing benchmarking on
other food hubs for the project. The undergraduate project teams
have 14 students who are working on all other project components,
including completing customer and vendor surveys, creating a
business plan and developing marketing strategies.
The scope of the Erie Food Hub service-learning project includes
a complete analysis and recommendations for establishing and
operating the food hub. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the
access to local agricultural fresh foods, strengthen the northwest
Pennsylvania region food distribution and build a healthier
downtown.