Harris Teeter has opened its 2026 Harvest Feast Round Up campaign, asking shoppers at its more than 250 stores to round transactions up to the nearest dollar at checkout, with proceeds directed to 19 local food-bank and pantry partners across the Kroger-owned chain's eight-state footprint.
The Numbers
Customers and associates contributed more than $820,000 during the 2025 edition of the campaign. Since the program launched in 2005, cumulative donations have exceeded $14 million — a figure that underscores how consistent point-of-sale micro-giving can aggregate into material hunger-relief funding over time. The 2026 drive runs through Dec. 29, covering the peak holiday giving window.
How It Works
Each of Harris Teeter's partner food banks is mapped to specific stores within its service area, ensuring that donations flow back to hunger-relief organizations operating in the same community where the transaction occurs. Danna Robinson, director of corporate affairs and customer relations for Harris Teeter, said the structure is intentional. "Every dollar donated at checkout stays local, supporting food bank partners that serve families in the same community where the donation is made," Robinson said.
Retail Giving in Context
Checkout round-up programs have become a standard community-investment lever for grocery chains, offering low friction for shoppers while producing measurable charitable volume at scale. For regional operators competing against national discounters and e-commerce players, cause-marketing campaigns tied to hyperlocal beneficiaries also serve a brand-differentiation function — reinforcing community identity at a moment when consumer loyalty is increasingly contested. Harris Teeter's 21-year track record with the Harvest Feast format suggests the mechanic retains donor participation well beyond an initial launch cycle, a durability that many shorter-lived cause programs struggle to replicate.
The campaign is relevant beyond the grocery aisle: as food-insecurity rates remain elevated in several of Harris Teeter's core Mid-Atlantic and Southeast markets, foodservice and supplier partners operating in those regions increasingly treat retailer-led giving programs as a complementary channel to their own corporate social responsibility commitments. For a deeper look at how grocery operators are deploying cause-marketing at scale, see our coverage of consumer-driven retail trends and food-access initiatives in foodservice.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
