Mission Grocer (2026)

Project leads: Annalise Myers, Nadine Metzger

Point & Associates is working alongside Auckland City Mission’s Mission Grocer to support learning, reflection and future planning during its first year of operation. Mission Grocer is an innovative response to food insecurity in central Tāmaki Makaurau, providing affordable, high‑quality kai in a way that centres dignity, choice and participation.

Launched in 2025, Mission Grocer operates from the City Mission’s HomeGround site and the Albert Park Whare Kai. It serves a diverse mix of people - Mission whānau, local residents, students and workers - creating a shared space where everyone shops together. Alongside access to good, healthy food, the Grocer also supports volunteering, employment pathways and connection, embedding food security within a wider kaupapa of wellbeing and belonging.

Point’s role has been to walk alongside the Mission Grocer team as an independent research and evaluation partner. Using a mixed‑methods, strengths‑based approach, we are helping the team pause, reflect and make sense of what has been learned so far. We’re discovering what’s working well, what’s been challenging, and what’s emerging as the model continues to evolve. Engagement with staff, whānau, volunteers and community partners is central to this work, which ensures that lived experience and diverse perspectives are key to shaping the insights.

This kind of reflective, values‑led evaluation is the kind of work we love: working in partnership with organisations to support thoughtful decision‑making, grounded in evidence and community voice.