The Sonder Market began selling in the fall semester and aims to provide fresh food for the campus while also reducing food waste, said Claire Strickland, a representative for the Sonder Market.
“Because we’re using foods that would have just been composted, it helps us cut down on waste, sell food that wouldn’t have been used and create this positive food feedback loop of cutting back and doing what’s sustainable,” Strickland said.
Strickland said there are very few stores on campus to buy fresh food or ingredients for healthy meals, a problem the Sonder Market wants to fix.
“We realized that there needs to be a place within walking distance where students and faculty and staff can go buy fresh produce,” she said.
Nikki Barczak, a leader of the Sonder Market, said the group wants to continue expanding.
“We really want it to be something that is well-known on campus, that people shop from on a regular basis,” Barczak said. “We really hope to one day acquire the funding and the opportunity for a physical space that’s kind of a mini-Weaver Street Market.”
The group purchases produce from Farmer Foodshare, a local organization that connects farmers with a range of needs from hunger relief to organizations like Sonder Market that hope to provide a more healthy alternative for its customers. The organization started in 2009 at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market, said Karla Capacetti, a representative of Farmer Foodshare.
“We’re really working to connect the dots between local farmers and local eaters, and the campus community is not excluded from needing or deserving fresh local goodness all year-round,” Capacetti said.
