For years, Cleveland residents who received SNAP benefits had an extra incentive to buy fruit and vegetables at farmers markets and Dave’s grocery stores – they’d get matching dollars through a program called “produce perks.”
Residents can still get up to a $25 match at farmers markets in Cuyahoga County. But after federal grants supporting it got canceled last year, residents no longer get up to $10 for buying produce at Dave’s Supermarkets.
Leaders are eager to bring back the program, which incentivized healthy food options. Its loss is a double-whammy: a hit to local grocery stores and to consumers who are also facing rising prices, said Morgan Taggart, the director of Food Access Raises Everyone, a Cleveland-based initiative that works on produce perks.
“The pause of the program at retailers has been significant for SNAP recipients in Cuyahoga County,” Taggart said. “ … Not having that extra incentive to be able to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at a time when there’s so many other external constraints on people’s food budgets and food purchasing has made it difficult.”
Dave’s is the only grocery store in Cuyahoga County that participated in the program. It did so beginning in 2018.
Then, last spring, the Trump administration canceled a three-year, $2.8 million grant that helped fund produce perks across the state. The administration said that the grant provided funding for programs that promote or take part in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives or others that unlawfully discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics.
(The grant had a goal of deepening Produce Perk’s impact “within underserved communities” and aimed to partner with 15 businesses owned by Black, indigenous or people of color.)
To fill the funding gap, Produce Perks Midwest sought out foundations that might be able to pick up the slack as the federal government retreated, said Tevis Foreman, the executive director of the statewide nonprofit Produce Perks Midwest. In Cuyahoga County, they raised enough money to keep offering the produce perks program at local farmers markets. But it couldn’t afford to keep up the partnership with Dave’s, which hands out “hundreds of thousands” more dollars than the farmers markets, Foreman said. Their produce sales far outpace farmers markets because they serve more SNAP customers and generally are open more hours.
“The budget just simply wasn’t there to do the volume of produce perks dollars that we do with Dave’s,” Foreman said. The nonprofit paused the partnership with Dave’s near the end of 2025, he said.
Foreman is hoping that the program will soon return to Dave’s and to more than a dozen counties across the state that couldn’t find any local funding options. The federal government opened an application for a similar grant program earlier this year, and Produce Perks Midwest applied. Foreman expects to hear back this fall, he said.
Aaron Saltzman, a co-president of Dave’s Supermarkets, did not reply to a request for comment about the program’s pause.
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Produce perks a longstanding Cleveland benefit
Produce Perks’ current focus on farmers markets in Cuyahoga County is, in a way, a return to its roots.
The program started in Cleveland around 2009 after Taggart and other food advocates got foundations on board to fund an experiment at a couple of farmers markets: match SNAP spending dollar-for-dollar. Other cities in Ohio set up similar programs at the same time.
Around 2015, federal dollars started becoming available. The loose network of food advocates, farmers markets, researchers and universities decided they needed to create a statewide nonprofit to coordinate nutrition incentives and apply for federal dollars. Produce Perks Midwest was created in 2017.
That same year, Produce Perks Midwest piloted the idea of expanding the program into retail stores at Dave’s Mercado on Cleveland’s near West Side. They gave away $5 coupons for fruits and vegetables when residents spent their SNAP benefits. Customers more than doubled their spending on produce when using the coupon as compared to without it, data showed.
When the nonprofit successfully received federal money in 2018, it was able to expand to more Dave’s locations and to other grocery stores across the state. It offered a coupon for up to $10 off future produce purchases if customers spent a matching amount using SNAP benefits.
They received another federal grant in 2021 and again in 2024, but that one was ultimately canceled.
Dave’s an ‘early adopter’ of the program
Why offer producer perks at Dave’s? For one, the program wanted to invest as much as possible in locally owned stores, Foreman said. For another, the company was willing to adjust their systems for the program, he added. The stores set up their cash registers to take note of customers buying produce with SNAP benefits and automatically print out their earned coupon.
“It was bumpy waters at first trying to figure out the point-of-sale systems, but they invested in the effort,” Foreman said. “They were early adopters.”
But the program’s cut is another hit to revenue at Dave’s, a grocery store chain that’s remained in the city of Cleveland despite economic headwinds. While it closed three grocery stores in the city over the past seven years, it also opened one at East 61st Street and Chester Avenue.
Dan Saltzman, co-president of Dave’s Markets, said in an interview with Signal Cleveland this spring that it saw revenue from SNAP fall approximately 10% over the past year — not a normal fluctuation.
“It puts a lot of strain on our business model,” he said at the time.
NAVIGATING SNAP
Where SNAP shoppers can still get Produce Perks
Cleveland residents who get SNAP benefits have an extra incentive to buy fruit and vegetables at farmers markets: a program called “Produce Perks” that matches what you spend, dollar for dollar.
The program used to be offered at Dave’s Markets locations around Cleveland, too. A federal funding cut nixed that as of late last year. But local foundations raised enough money to continue offering the program at farmers markets around Cuyahoga County.
Here’s what to know.
Who is eligible for the Produce Perks program?
Anyone with an Ohio Direction Card. If you live outside of Cuyahoga County but receive SNAP, you can visit farmers markets within the county to participate in the program.
How does the Produce Perks program work?
After arriving at the farmers’ market, go to the customer service booth and swipe your SNAP/EBT Ohio Direction Card. Tell staff how much you plan to spend. The amount you specified will be charged to your card.
You will then be handed two types of tokens: EBT tokens in the amount of SNAP you planned to spend, and a matching number of Produce Perks tokens up to $25.
Shop at the different vendors using the tokens.
What can I spend my tokens on?
The Produce Perks tokens can be spent on whole, fresh fruit and vegetables, seeds and fruit or vegetable plants.
EBT tokens can be spent on anything that’s SNAP-eligible at the farmer’s market, such as meat or dairy.
What if I have tokens left over after a shopping trip?
EBT tokens must be spent at the farmers market where you received them, according to the nonprofit Produce Perks Midwest. But Produce Perks tokens can be spent at any participating farmers market.
What farmers markets participate?
Here’s a list of farmers markets in Cuyahoga County where you can receive and spend Produce Perks tokens.
City Fresh
Weekly farm boxes (Tuesday – Friday) at 16 locations throughout Cleveland, Euclid, Westlake, Lakewood, Berea, Lorain, Oberlin and Elyria. To order, visit cityfresh.org
Coit Road Farmers’ Market
🕔 Sat 5 – 8 PM (Jul – Sep), Sat 8 AM – 1 PM
📍 15000 Woodworth Rd, East Cleveland
Food For All Euclid Beach
🕠 Tue 5:30- 7 PM (Jun 20 – Oct 31)
📍 15901 Lakeshore Blvd, Cleveland
Good Earth Farm Stand
🕒 Mon, Thurs 3 – 7 PM (May – Oct), 3 – 5 PM (Nov – Apr); Sat 12-4
📍 9600 Madison Avenue, Cleveland
Kamm’s Corners Farmers’ Market
🕙 Sun 10 AM – 1 PM (Jun 15 – Oct 12)
📍 16906 Albers Avenue, Cleveland
Lakewood Earth & Food Community Farmers’ Market
🕠 Mon 5:30 – 7:30 PM (Jun 19 – Oct 30)
📍 15425 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood
La Marketa
🕚 Sat 11 AM – 3 PM (May 24 – Aug 23)
📍 3690 Seymore Ave, Cleveland
Old Brooklyn Farmers’ Market
🕔 Mon 5- 8 PM (Jul 10 – Sep 25)
📍 4274 Pearl Road, Cleveland
Public Square Farmers’ Market
🕔 Thurs 4- 7 PM (June 11 – Oct. 29)
📍 4274 Pearl Road, Cleveland
RevLove Market
Days and times vary.
Visit revlovefarm.org
Tremont Farmers’ Market
🕓 Wed 4 PM – 7 PM (May 20 – Oct 14)
📍 1208 Starkweather Avenue, Cleveland
North Union Farmers’ Markets:
Chagrin Falls
🕘 Sat 9 AM -12 PM (Jun 1 -Oct 19)
📍 21 N. Franklin Street, Chagrin Falls
Cleveland Clinic
🕥 Wed 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM (Jun 4 – Oct 29)
📍 Carnegie Avenue & East 100th Street, Cleveland
Crocker Park
🕘 Sat 9 AM – 1 PM (Apr – Dec), 9 AM – 12 PM (Jan – Mar)
📍 Corner of Crocker and Detroit, Westlake
Lakewood
🕘 Wed 12 AM – 1 PM (Jun 4 – Oct 29)
📍 13029 Madison Ave, Lakewood
Legacy Village
🕘 Sun 9 AM – 12 PM (Jun 8 – Oct 12)
📍 25389 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst
Shaker Square
🕗 Sat 8 AM – 12 PM (Apr 5 – Dec 20)
📍 13111 Shaker Square, Cleveland
University Hospitals
🕥 Thurs 10:30 AM – 1 PM (Jun – Oct)
📍 2074 Adelbert Road, Cleveland
Van Aken
🕓 Thurs 4 – 7 PM (Jun – Sep)
🕘 Sat 9-AM 12 PM (Jan – Mar)
📍 3401 Tuttle Road, Shaker Heights
