How Sam Polk is making healthy meals accessible and affordable in food deserts

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Sam Polk, founder and CEO of Everytable, launched the social enterprise grab-and-go concept in Los Angeles in 2015. His goal was to provide healthy, affordable meals in neighborhoods that are often classified as food deserts.

The chef-inspired food is prepared at a central commissary to keep pricing low and is delivered to Everytable store locations, refrigerated vending machines and directly to consumers. The customer base includes more affluent diners, too, and Polk follows a variable pricing model, charging according to zip code. But the menu of salads, wraps and warm bowls, which includes best-sellers like Jamaican jerk chicken with coconut rice and salmon adobo, resonates across all locales, he says.

Sam Polk

Everytable now has 33 locations (its newest opened this spring in New York City). Polk forecasts reaching 55 units by the end of 2022, with plans to expand to Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and other urban areas. Listen as he describes Everytable’s social mission, craveable menu, funding strategy and future growth.

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