Big Bet: Provide healthier, affordable food for all, by transforming corner stores into retail food pharmacies.
Project: The Community Grocer reimagines the convenience store as a core piece of public-private infrastructure powered by neighborhood-run retail, food pharmacy prescriptions, and intergenerational workforce development community centers. As the first retailer in the United States to offer complete meal solutions in exchange for SNAP and WIC benefits while also transacting directly with Medicaid plans and health systems, The Community Grocer is redefining the unit economics required to support fresh food access across America, beginning in Philadelphia.
Alexandre Imbot is reinventing convenience stores as retail food pharmacies, making nutritious, fresh food more affordable and available, reducing future healthcare costs and supporting communities often characterized as “food deserts.” A 2020 University of Pennsylvania graduate in Environmental Management, he co-created The Community Grocer with fellow DC native Eli Moraru, and was later awarded Penn’s President’s Prize for Sustainability. He serves on Philadelphia City Council’s inaugural Food & Nutrition Security Task Force.