
Photo Courtesy of FoodBank of South Jersey Cooking Matters Program
Wouldn’t it be great if you could save money eating out and help fight hunger at the same time?That’s the concept behind 3SquareDeals.com started by New Jersey entrepreneur Deborah Smith. 3SquareDeals offers great deals at restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores. In return it donates 10% of every deal it sells to food banks in New Jersey. The food banks will use the money to feed the hungry; providing 3 meals for every dollar they receive.
This week, Deb took a few minutes to answer some questions about the program while she was preparing for the launch of the website on Monday, January 30, 2012. Here’s our interview:
BNJ: How did you come to care about the issue of hunger?
Deb: When I started writing about food, I quickly realized that I had an obligation to not only talk about the fun and sexy side of food, but to also talk about the serious side of food, it’s purity and its scarcity. The more I learned about what the food banks do and how many people they help, there was no turning back. We are all about food at JerseyBites, so it’s a perfect marriage.
BNJ: How did you get started with the 3SquareDeals concept?
Deb: I had been mulling over getting into the deals market for some time, but I knew it would need to be very different to catch the attention of the already overloaded consumers out there. When the idea of working with the FoodBanks came to me, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I reached out to my contacts at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and they loved the idea. The rest is history, and 6 months of planning.
BNJ: Deb, I know you are busy running your JerseyBites.com business. How did you find time to work on this?
Deb: I made time. Some things have suffered. My house hasn’t been cleaned in a very long time and my kids are eating a lot of pre-cooked meals (which they don’t seem to mind). I work through most weekends and into the night, but my story is the typical story of any entrepreneur. If you are excited about what you’re doing, it’s just what you do. I have also been very fortunate to find some people to help, and they’ve been amazing.
BNJ: What are your goals for the project?
Deb: Our immediate goals are expand to all of New Jersey in 2012. If it is successful we’ll take the concept to other states. There are hungry people everywhere.

FoodBank of New Jersey Meals Program
BNJ: What’s your connection to the FoodBank of New Jersey?
Deb: Over the years we’ve helped them publicize a number of campaigns. In 2008 we worked with them on their “This Bank Can’t Fail” campaign. We had over 120 bloggers participate and we raised about $7000.
BNJ: How does the Food Bank function?
Deb: You’d be amazed at the types of programs these FoodBanks offer.
The Community FoodBank of New Jersey and the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties both have culinary schools.
The food banks serve as distribution centers for emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, senior feeding programs and more.
The “Backpack Program” identifies children who need food, and gives them 6 meals to take home for the weekend.

The FoodBank of South Jersey Hope Mobile is a mobile food pantry that holds 45,000 lbs of food and feeds over 21,000 people in four counties. These are the types of programs that we will be helping to fund.
To find out more about the program see the 3SquareDeals website and be sure and stop by Deb’s website JerseyBites.com for some great restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores in New Jersey.
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