South Dallas has experienced limited access to groceries, fewer homes with cars, and residents who have lower incomes than other parts of the city.
But a program expanding at Bonton Farms is working to make life a bit easier for residents who have to slog their groceries in the heat of summer or wait to catch a bus.
“It’s still a food desert, but now the shift is you’ve got working people who don’t have to stop by the grocery store,” said Mark Jones, president and CEO at Bonton Farms.
Barbara Weeks cooks bell peppers and tomatoes for grilled chicken flatbread during a free community cooking class called Cooking Up Connections at the Dallas Bethlehem Center on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
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Grocery Connect, a program started by Bonton Farms partnering with Kroger in late 2023, is expanding its pickup locations. The program axes delivery fees for grocery pickup, and concierges walk community members through online ordering and clipping coupons. Residents can then pick up their orders at a central location. The first order comes with a $35 gift card.
The products aren’t picked over, Jones said, as they arrive from a distribution center. The COVID-19 pandemic made online ordering more acceptable, opening an opportunity to benefit communities facing issues with food access, Jones said.
That culture shift allows everybody to participate, Jones said.
“We’re able to provide fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, all the things that you don’t have access to in a food desert, accessible to you in a truck that just delivers it,” he said.
In addition to pickups once a week at the Dallas Bethlehem Center and the Innercity Community Development Corporation, pickups are expected to expand to the Bonton Wellness Center, which opened earlier this year. A kickoff is planned for Oct. 7.
Tony Monroe, a concierge with Grocery Connect, said he’s been busy adding the third pickup spot into the mix. They’re there to serve people from all walks of life, he said, from people who visit the pantry at the Bethlehem Center to those who have the means to venture out for premium groceries or work nearby but could use the convenience.
Grocery Connect Concierge Tony Monroe jokes around with Gloria Rollerson during a free community cooking class called Cooking Up Connections at the Dallas Bethlehem Center on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Susan Phillips, left, slices avocado for grilled chicken flatbread topping.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
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Monroe himself moved to the neighborhood from Oak Lawn. He doesn’t have a car and said he soon realized the nearby conveniences he was missing, by comparison.
“It’s really tough,” he said. “Walking the streets with grocery bags in this heat, it changes your whole attitude.”
Monroe said one man he helped use the Kroger app was a trucker who didn’t have an email address. The man didn’t know how to get to the texts on his phone to verify his account. Eventually, they got logged in and got the man’s groceries.
“It was personal,” Monroe said. “He sat there, and I learned that he likes the strawberry Nutri-Grain bars.”
Kenedi Houston, another concierge, said the program is more than just ordering on an app. They call customers “connections” and can help them apply for resources like supplemental food benefits.
Cooking Up Connections: A free South Dallas community cooking class partners with Grocery Connect
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The program partners with a local chef for free cooking classes at the Bethlehem Center. Connected Dallas, also at the center, offers help with using technology and for skills like digital couponing.
“It’s really like being that social support network, and that’s what we’re building organically with our customers,” Houston said. “Now, we have people who come to us for advice.”
The program’s website at groceryconnect.org shows how those interested can participate.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.