Feeding Tampa Bay moves into new multi-million warehouse

TAMPA - Feeding Tampa Bay officially moved into its new $60 million warehouse Thursday. 

The Causeway Center is 215,000 square feet, which is almost three times larger than the nonprofit’s original building. 

According to Feeding Tampa Bay, one in six adults and one in four children struggle with food insecurity in our community. The new building has an 11,000 square foot kitchen that will push out 10,000 daily meals. 

"When someone comes to us for a meal, that’s not the only challenge they’re dealing with in life," Thomas Mantz, president and CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay, said. 

In the past, the nonprofit said it has had to turn away 25% of donated fresh foods due to a lack of storage space. The new, spacious warehouse solves that problem. 

"We can do 150 million meals in this location. And we also made it to where we can expand if we even needed to. We own this property rather than leasing it like we did before," Feeding Tampa Bay spokesperson Shannon Hannon-Oliviero said.

The new location also includes a grocery store, café, and classrooms for job training and financial literacy lessons. 

"Our goal is to make sure that if you come in for a meal, you walk out with a future," Mantz said. 

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Feeding Tampa Bay’s new home opens as residents continue to struggle with inflation, which has been unexpectedly high in the first three months of this year after having steadily dropped in the second half of 2023. The elevated readings in early 2024 had dimmed hopes that the worst bout of inflation in four decades was being tamed and raised concerns that prices could spike again.

As a result, retailers like Target, Walmart, and Aldi have slashed prices on certain food and household items. 

The Causeway Center is located at 3624 Causeway Blvd in Tampa.