Montreal food bank raises basket prices amid decline in food supplies
Posted June 10, 2026 3:21 pm.
Last Updated June 10, 2026 4:59 pm.
A food bank in Montreal’s Village neighbourhood has raised the price of its food baskets for the first time in 13 years after a decline in food deliveries forced the organization to purchase more food on its own.
Information alimentaire populaire Centre-Sud recently increased the cost of a basket from $3 to $5. The organization says the change was necessary as it receives less food from Moisson Montréal, one of its main suppliers.
Less food, higher costs
General manager Kateline McDonnell said clients are receiving fewer items than they once did because of a reduction in food deliveries.
In the past, baskets often included an abundance of fruits, vegetables and staple foods such as pasta and rice. Today, the selection is more limited.
To make up for the shortfall, the organization has started purchasing food itself.
“We try to get what we can in there, but people have definitely noticed a decrease in the amount of food they’re getting in their baskets,” McDonnell said.
Those purchases have added thousands of dollars in annual expenses, forcing the food bank to increase basket prices for the first time since 2012.
Price increase leads to fewer clients
The price increase has had an immediate impact.
McDonnell said the food bank has seen a 30 per cent decline in customers coming in since the new price took effect in January.
The decline concerns staff, who worry some former clients may be going without food.
“As soon as we put the increase on, we just saw it immediately decreased, and it never came back; people never came back around,” she said. “It’s really unfortunate because these people that used to come, like, almost every week, we’re not seeing them anymore.”
McDonnell said even a $2 increase can be difficult for people already struggling with rising living costs.
“Knowing that there are people out there that are just not receiving the service because they can’t pay that… it’s a slight augmentation for us, but for a lot of people, it’s huge,” McDonnell said. “Two dollars is a huge amount.”
“It’s just terrible knowing that they’re not getting the service they need anymore.”
Shelves left nearly empty
The shortages have been ongoing since last summer.
McDonnell said there have been times when refrigerators and shelves were nearly empty while staff waited for new deliveries.
Before the decline in supply, the food bank typically had enough stock to meet demand and handle unexpected increases in visitors.
“That never used to happen before,” she said. “We always had to use some extra supply if we needed some extra donations. If we had big days, we always had something to cover, but now we’re just running really low. It’s bare minimum.”
According to McDonnell, organizations have been told that some surplus food that once went to food banks is now being collected by liquidation stores and other businesses.
“We know they’re trying to find solutions, but right now we’re not seeing the impact on the food we’re getting,” she said. “It’s still a very low amount.”
Changing food recovery landscape
Moisson Montréal, which distributes food to about 300 community organizations across the island, says the situation reflects broader changes in the food recovery sector.
Matias Duque, the organization’s director of philanthropy, said Information alimentaire populaire Centre-Sud is among a minority of organizations that have recently seen a decline in food received.
“Over the past two years, we’ve increased the amount of food that we’ve distributed,” Duque said. “If we look over the past two years, 70 per cent of those organizations have had an increase in the amount of food that they received from us. About 30 per cent have had a slight drop.”
Duque said Moisson Montréal is working with organizations experiencing shortages to better understand the challenges they face.
“We recently were made aware of this situation, and we think it’s unfortunate,” he said. “I can’t get into specifics of a particular organization, but our community relations department is looking into it and is going to be working with this organization to see what the challenges are and find a solution to the fact that they have less food at the moment.”
According to Duque, several factors have made it more difficult for food banks to access surplus food.
“One is that producers and grocers have gotten better at their production cycles and also with a lot less waste in grocery stores,” he said. “So that means that there’s less surplus available for us.”
He added that changing consumer habits have also played a role.
“It used to be that the ugly fruits and vegetables were not getting bought. People are now buying them,” Duque said. “And you have the food apps that have come out. So with that, there’s a lot less surplus from the grocery stores.”
Despite those challenges, Duque said Moisson Montréal has seen signs of improvement in recent months.
“A few months ago, we saw a slight drop. Now I think things are starting to pick up again,” he said. “We’re seeing that the amount of food we’re getting is slowly coming back to better levels.”
Searching for new sources of food
The shortages have created new challenges for the organization.
In addition to running day-to-day operations, staff are spending more time seeking donations, alternative food sources and additional funding.
“It’s just always a struggle to find money to run the food bank adequately,” McDonnell said. “The funding from the government is not really increasing, or it’s just very, very, very slightly increasing every year, but it’s not enough.”
McDonnell said the food bank has only two employees, making it difficult to balance those responsibilities.
“It’s a lot of work for two people to just see where we can get donations, see where we can get some extra supply for food, like, run the food bank and just, we have other projects going on. It’s hard.”
Call for government support
McDonnell said increased government funding would help food banks cope with rising operating costs and growing demand.
She is also encouraging local businesses, grocery stores and food suppliers to donate surplus products.
“We are definitely looking for an alternative way to supply that doesn’t demand us to spend extra money,” McDonnell said.
Duque also encouraged the public to support food assistance organizations as demand remains high.
“Obviously, if people can support us and send us a gift, that would be really great,” he said. “We always need the help.”
