Neighborhood Grocery Jefferson Market & Deli Will Open in 2027

United Way of Acadiana Advances Food Access Work with Jefferson Market & Deli Opening Mardi Gras 2027

LAFAYETTE, La. (press release) – United Way of Acadiana (UWA) announced the development of Jefferson Market & Deli, a for-profit neighborhood grocery store bringing fresh food and everyday essentials to Pontiac Point. 

Through Jefferson Market & Deli, UWA seeks to strengthen access to fresh food options for those who live, work, travel through and visit the North Lafayette area, including Sterling Grove and McComb-Veazey.

Set to open by Mardi Gras 2027, the project will transform a historic, 2,300-square-foot building at 620 Jefferson Blvd. into a neighborhood grocery offering fresh produce, meat, dairy, pantry staples and prepared food options.

A multi-agency effort facilitated by UWA brought together public funding, grant support, financing and private investment around a shared commitment to equitable food access, making the project possible.

Organizers share that the Jefferson Market & Deli project is part of UWA’s years of research, community listening and persistent collaboration, which have translated into action through:

• Investing in local growers
• Expanding community-based food access
• Building local food infrastructure
• Developing partnerships
• Advancing grocery store planning
• Assembling the financing needed to support long-term solutions

What: Jefferson Market & Deli Project Details

Jefferson Market & Deli will combine community investment with local ownership. Amis Grocery operators Bradley Cruice, a registered nurse, and Craig Biddy will run the for-profit grocery store.

Castle Row Construction, led by Sam Viator, stepped in as the project’s developer, acquiring the property with the vision of creating a permanent home for the grocery store and leading the redevelopment and tenant buildout needed to bring Jefferson Market & Deli to life.

United Way of Acadiana will help coordinate programming, volunteers and resource connections, creating opportunities for local chefs, dietitians, nutrition educators and other healthy-food practitioners to bring their expertise into the store. 

SNAP benefits will be accepted, with SNAP sign-up assistance available at the store. 

The market will complement, not replace, food pantries, gardens and other food assistance. It is intended to become a self-sustaining part of a broader, coordinated food-access system and a model that could inform similar work elsewhere.

“Jefferson Market is designed to be a self-sustaining neighborhood business, not a short-term program dependent on ongoing charitable support,” said Blanchard. “Our hope is to prove that this model of community investment, private capital and local ownership can work here and ultimately be replicated in other food deserts.”

Community members can help shape what comes next. Visit https://unitedwayofacadiana.org/jeffersonmarket/ to complete the interest form, donate, volunteer or learn how to become a local vendor.

Why: Project Formation and Support

The idea for Jefferson Market & Deli grew from the Lafayette Initiative for Food Equity, a UWA-led effort launched after its Community Health Needs Assessment.

Research through local hospital partnerships showed that nearly half of Lafayette residents – approximately 65,000 people – lived in low-income, low-access census tracts. United Way of Acadiana recognized that food access affects health, financial stability and quality of life, and that no one organization could solve the problem alone.

“From the beginning, we knew addressing food access had to be about more than providing food – we had to bring investment and build lasting infrastructure in a community that had gone too long without it,” said United Way of Acadiana President & CEO Heather Blanchard. 

With a Collective Impact Grant from the Louisiana Blue Foundation – supporting its Fresh Food Capital Investment Plan – and American Rescue Plan Act funding provided through Lafayette Consolidated Government, UWA’s initiative has helped create or expand four food access points, supported 157 community partnerships and programs and recorded more than 13,946 households served.

Organizers share that the work included:

• Convening cross-sector partners
• Investing in Earthshare Gardens and Fightingville Fresh
• Supporting initiatives such as the Seed Library

At the same time, upLFT Capital Access advanced a parallel strategy to address food access through capital, developing financing tools and delivering technical assistance to small businesses and projects to strengthen the local healthy-food ecosystem. When an earlier grocery concept did not become a reality, the partners regrouped, applied what they had learned and developed a new approach.

“Expanding access to healthy food also means expanding access to the capital needed to make healthy-food businesses and projects possible,” said Executive Director of upLFT Capital Access Shamika Boxie. “Jefferson Market & Deli demonstrates what can happen when mission-driven financing, community investment and committed partners come together around a shared goal. We are proud to work alongside United Way of Acadiana and the other partners who helped move this project from vision to reality.”

Through loans and grant funding, upLFT Capital Access provided critical capital for the project, reflecting its broader work as an emerging Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) expanding access to flexible capital for local businesses and community development.