How NTFB’s Operations Team is Closing the Hunger Gap

On Employee Appreciation Day, learn how some of your North Texas Food Bank partners are contributing toward our mission.

Did you know that the Operations Department is made up of 10 different teams? Together, they ensure that food is available and safely distributed to the neighbors who need it most. Here’s a look at how they get it done:

Business Intelligence

Team size: 4

Decisions without data are simply conjecture, and this team takes that to heart, removing the guesswork from improving NTFB operations by providing up-to-date information. This team is responsible for the Hunger Index 2.0, which provides county and zip code-level meal gap fulfilment data that helps us know where food is needed most in our service area.

Project Management Office

Team size: 1

This team works within business intelligence and executes projects that support one of the NTFB’s four main goals. These projects are typically complex and require coordination across multiple teams. One example is a project that improved produce distribution from 30% to 35% by increasing sourcing opportunities and identifying agencies that could distribute more produce.

Quality

Team size: 7

The Quality department ensures that food being distributed meets all standards and that our Partner Agencies are in compliance with NTFB requirements. They also implement procedures to ensure the safety of NTFB staff and they run the Help Desk, which supports Partner Agencies.

Food Sourcing

Team size: 8

This team is responsible for ensuring there is food in the warehouse. They solicit retail, manufacturing and other donations; make sure we’re using USDA entitlement and other government grants well, and purchase food with grants, subsidies and NTFB funds. In FY23, they set out to increase the amount of food donated by retail partners (like Kroger and Albertsons/Tom Thumb) to 40.1 million nutritious pounds and they surpassed that goal bringing in 42.96 million nutritious pounds and doing so under budget.

Warehouse Administration

Team size: 7

When pallets are pulled from storage or moved from one place to another, this team is behind it. They monitor inventory integrity and ensure all inventory data is captured and reported accurately.

Transportation

Team size: 17

With 15 drivers, a dispatch coordinator and a senior manager, this team acts as the “face of the Food Bank” to our agency and retail partners by delivering food to our Feeding Network as well as picking up and delivering donations from retailers.

Facilities

Team size: 3

These NTFB staff members work to ensure all building systems at the Perot Family Campus are operating at peak efficiency, including HVAC, refrigeration, lighting and backup power systems.

Production

Team size: 5, plus 25 Kernels (volunteer leaders)

This group leads nearly 5,000 volunteers each month in sorting donations and packing boxes for distribution to our neighbors facing hunger. Through the first half of the fiscal year, 650,000 pounds of food was sorted and 5.2 million kitted meals completed.

Receiving

Team size: 14

Purchased and donated food is received at the Perot Family Campus by this team and then sorted and put away so that it’s available for order by Agency Partners.

Picking

Team size: 10

When an order is made by an Agency Partner, it’s this team that prepares it for transport and ensures neighbors receive the food they need to thrive. The team is at a picking accuracy rate of 98.9%.

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