The Case for Rugged Food Distribution Systems
What we’re building at Mana Systems…
Relief organizations all over the world face the same question. What is the most efficient way to serve large groups of people? The solution is almost always the same…. either bring in huge palettes of MREs (meals ready to eat) and let the crowds of people go wild, or have some sort of hot food (usually rice and beans) cooked and served by hand soup-kitchen style. Both of these approaches have extreme drawbacks and few benefits.
MREs are a quick solution. They’re great because of their portability and ease of use. Bring the MREs to where they’re needed, and let the people have at it. The distribution of them is rarely structured, allowing individuals to grab as many meals as they’d like, usually creating an environment where some are served well, and others not at all. MREs are also not the most efficient for extended periods of time. The food served by MREs are much less than desirable, yet can serve as an energy-dense food source in a pinch. A much better solution is a simple deployment of a rice and beans kitchen.
Quick hot food kitchens can be easily deployed and scaled to feed masses of people. Large pots and wood burning fires are the extent of the infrastructure necessary to deploy such a system. The biggest challenge in this setting is the distribution phase of their supply chain. How do you get food from kitchens to the people? This is a challenge faced by organizations feeding impoverished schoolchildren, natural disaster survivors, refugee camps, and homeless shelters.
The Mana One is taking aim at this challenge.
Upon request by Food4Education, Mana Systems began development of such hardware. The Mana One is a rugged, off-the-grid, solar powered, food distribution system.
Central kitchens will have our custom made receptacles, designed to keep food warm and recipes intact for up to 8 hours. They will be filled with any time of semi-soluable homogenous food. Think rice and beans, stews, and roasts, etc. Those receptacles will be transported to the deployment site where they will be loaded into the distribution unit to be served.
The distribution unit is a solar+battery powered serving device that keeps food warm and serves portion controlled meals. This is huge for organizations that serve food in this way.
- This allows them to deliver food much earlier to serving.
- Reduces labour costs and requires fewer people to scale.
- Decreases the amount of time it takes to serve each meal, allowing for faster feeding throughput
We’re still early in this process, but progress is being made and the possibilities are endless. We’re looking into exciting things like partnering with transitional housing spaces, manufacturing in underserved communities, and more. To follow our progress, join our mailing list and check out our website.
