Episode 63: Juneteenth Features: Forty Acres Fresh Market

Liz Abunaw is the founder and operator of Forty Acres Fresh Market, a grocery startup launched in January 2018.

Alarmed by the lack of fresh food options on Chicago’s west side, after leaving her sales job at Microsoft in November 2017, Liz committed to opening an affordable specialty grocery store with a bountiful fresh food selection on Chicago’s Westside. Using an innovative mobile strategy centered on full-selection pop up produce markets to test and develop the right business model, she has grown Forty Acres from idea to a social impact small business built to scale. Since its inception Forty Acres Fresh Market has serviced over 2000 Chicago households. It continues to expand its reach through a delivery service option and participation in Veggie Rx programs. Forty Acres’ impact on Chicago’s Westside has garnered investment from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative, the American Heart Association Social Impact Fund, the State of IL Office of Minority Economic Empowerment and other funders. Forty Acres Fresh Market is now poised to open to scale from a mobile produce vendor to its first brick and mortar store in 2022.

Prior to launching Forty Acres Fresh Market Liz was a partner manager in Microsoft’s sales division and before that spent ten years at General Mills, Inc. A native of New York state, Abunaw moved to Chicago in 2012 when awarded a full-tuition fellowship to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, from which she graduated in 2014. Liz is a 2002 Cornell University graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Policy Analysis and Management. She holds the staunch position that while Chicago deep dish is delicious, it is not pizza. It is casserole. Pizza folds. (ed. note- The Checkout fully endorses this.)

Follow The Checkout on Facebook - Instagram - Twitter.

Stream The Checkout on Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - Google Podcast

Episode #63 Notes

0:35 - What got you interested in food retail?

1:30 - What’s the food situation in your part of Chicago?

5:40 - On Chicago’s development and urban history.

11:15 - How did Forty Acres Fresh Market get started?

14:30 - Forty Acres vision.

17:15 - How do you decide what to sell and who to buy from?

25:30 - On sourcing standards.

29:00 - What’s the organizational structure of Forty Acres?

31:00 - How have customers responded to Forty Acres?

36:00 - What’s next for Forty Acres Fresh Market?

39:15 - Book recommendations!

The Color of Money, Black Banks and The Racial Wealth Gap, Mehrsa Baradaran