[Dave] Rauch worked for 31 years at Trader Joe's, the last 14 as a president. He helped grow the small retail chain in California into a grocery store with a national presence. He retired in 2008. But Rauch wasn't really ready to call it quits. He started growing another food store - Daily Table, located in a low-income neighborhood of Boston. "I failed retirement," says Rauch, his eyes crinkling when he smiles. Since it opened two years ago, Daily Table has been a pioneer in its approach to food waste, food deserts, hunger, and obesity. It's a nonprofit grocery store, selling healthy food at bargain prices. The food that Daily Table sells is excess food - either donated by various organizations or bought at steep discounts from big-name companies looking to unload items that are close to their expiration dates. The items are resold at a fraction of retail prices - and yes, they still haven't reached their expiration dates. Daily Table looks like a Trader Joe's. [The store is filled with] stacks of organic cereal, produce piled high on display tables, and in a refrigerated section, precooked meals and fresh salads made on-site. As many as 49 million Americans are food insecure, says Rauch, citing a common statistic. The data have frustrated him. "We're one of the richest nations in the history of food production," he says. "It just seemed so incongruous to me." To get excess healthy food into the hands of those in need, Rauch searched for "inefficiencies in the system." He found them and channeled what he learned into Daily Table.
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