Jet Solutions is a for-profit business founded and based in Indianapolis. We have been in operation for 2 ½ years and have made over 2,000 customer sales and deliveries to date. Our business model has been carefully developed and refined to address major issues revolving around food insecurity. These include Healthy Food Choices, Access to Quality Food, Navigating Deals and Couponing, and supporting a Delivery System that is scalable and Sustainable (H.A.N.D.S). We believe our model has far-reaching potential beyond the state of Indiana.
Jets firmly believes, based on evidence compiled and analyzed from our three pilot launches and our in-the-field experience, that we can: (1) significantly reduce Indianapolis’ growing food desert problem, (2) immediately promote the sale of Indiana-grown produce on a considerable scale, (3) increase the fruit and vegetable consumption of SNAP recipients in our program by 15%, (4) provide customers with 20% more purchasing power for non-produce-related groceries, and (5) employ SNAP and Welfare recipients looking to supplement their income with work-from-home jobs, thereby reducing the burden on tax payers in certain demographics. Furthermore, we are confident our model can be implemented within the context of a for-profit structure that will allow us to donate 3-5% of purchases (profits?) to any local non-profit organization of each customer’s choice.
Jet will improve access to healthy and affordable food, and advocate for solving the food desert problem, by utilizing delivery systems already established by major supermarket retailers. These retailers have robust and multifaceted delivery infrastructures in place to mitigate the food desert situation, even in the inner city. Unfortunately, few SNAP recipients can afford these options, and major retailers cannot, at this time, process EBT transactions for online deliveries. Jet intends to solve this dilemma by handling the payment and delivery process through a cooperative partnership with Meijer.
In exchange for sponsoring our customers’ grocery deliveries, Jet will require that a certain percentage of their purchases include Indiana-grown produce. Once subscribed to our service, customers will be able to utilize Meijer’s delivery system up to six times per month. As with any program, there are some stipulations. The first is that 10% or more of the purchase total must be allocated toward Indiana-grown produce from Farmers’ Markets (FMs). The second is that this produce be delivered by Jet during weekends. In a practical sense, groceries from Meijer will be delivered the same day. However, Jet will deliver FM products over the weekend. We have designed a system that can be tailored to meet our customers’ needs from week-to-week, without high overhead, through the use of an Uber-based approach to weekend deliveries.
Finally, we are experimenting with commissioning local couponing experts and contracting them to shop on behalf of our SNAP customers. The pilot program is only three months old; however, our average customer has saved 19.8 percent on their orders to date. We believe this amazing program can be scaled, and that it has the potential to provide our customers with approximately 20% more SNAP spending power.