Thanks so much for making time for this. Before we get started, I'll give you a quick overview.

This project is funded by a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. It's a partnership between SupplyChange, Square One Foundation, and Community Alliance with Family Farmers. We're using it to understand how ready foodservice organizations across California are to work with local food hubs and farmers. This is purely research, meant to help the state understand buyer interest and capability, not to evaluate or audit your organization. We will also ask you later on if you are interested in continuing with the project to be matched with farms and food hubs, which is completely voluntary.

With your permission, I'd like to record this conversation. The recording stays private to our project team. Tt won't be shared outside SupplyChange, Square One Foundation, CAFF, or CDFA, and anything we report to the state will be anonymized and combined with responses from other organizations. No individual organization will be named or identifiable in any reporting. We can also send you a copy of our confidentiality commitment if you need it for your records.

Is it okay if I record?

[Wait for consent.]

Great: I'll read each question aloud, and you can just respond naturally. Sometimes I'll ask a quick follow-up to make sure I understand your answer fully. Most questions have a set of answer choices, and I'll try to match what you tell me to the closest option, but if it's easier, I'm also happy to just read you the choices directly. There's no need to worry about giving a "perfect" answer, if something doesn't apply or you're not sure, just say so.

Any questions before we dive in?