HOUSTON – Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, continues to expand its partnership with sweetgreen, a mission-driven restaurant brand building healthier communities by connecting people to real food, to serve schoolchildren and families across Texas.
Brighter Bites began their partnership with sweetgreen during the opening of the company’s Main Street restaurant in Downtown Houston in 2020. For every meal sold during their grand openings, sweetgreen donates a freshly prepared meal to Brighter Bites for students and families at underserved elementary schools in the local community.
Since the start of their partnership, Brighter Bites has been the impact partner for ten of sweetgreen’s restaurant openings across Texas in Houston, Austin, and Dallas. Brighter Bites has received over 3,500 meals, equating to around $45,000 worth of food donations. In 2023, Brighter Bites and sweetgreen partnered for new restaurant openings in the Mueller neighborhood in Austin and, just last week, Uptown Houston.
“When sweetgreen meals are available at distribution locations, it’s always a crowd-pleaser and welcomed by our schools and families,” said Katie Degen, senior program manager of Brighter Bites Houston. “The meals enhance the program’s overall experience by exposing families to different fruits and vegetables. This inspires families to recreate the meals at home with the produce provided in the weekly boxes!”
Through this collaboration, Brighter Bites can provide their families with craveable, nutritious meals made from scratch in sweetgreen’s local kitchens in addition to their regular produce distribution. By working with sweetgreen, Brighter Bites hopes to connect and inspire families with new ways to incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into healthy and delicious meals.
“Since day one, our mission has focused on expanding access to real food,” said Tony Wu, sweetgreen’s DEI + Social Impact Program Manager. “We resonate with Brighter Bites’ holistic approach to providing equitable access to fresh food and robust nutrition education to kids and their parents to reinforce healthy eating habits. We’re proud to support Brighter Bites and build healthier communities together.”
To learn more about Brighter Bites or how to volunteer or partner, visit brighterbites.org, or follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or YouTube.
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About Brighter Bites:
Brighter Bites is a nonprofit that creates communities of health through fresh food with the goal of changing behavior among children and their families to prevent obesity and achieve long-term health. Brighter Bites is an evidence-based, multi-component elementary school, preschool, and summer camp program that utilizes reliable access to fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and consistent exposure to recipes and messages that feature fresh food. Since 2012, Brighter Bites has provided over 50 million pounds of produce and millions of nutrition education materials to more than 500,000 individuals (including teachers) in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, Southwest Florida, Salinas, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and San Antonio. To learn more about Brighter Bites, visit www.brighterbites.org.
