Corby Kummer: H-E-B Supermarkets Helped Texans Amid Severe Power Outage

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Thursday about how H-E-B grocery stores supported community members in Texas during the severe power outage that swept the state last month.

“It has enormous brand halo because in times of crisis when there’s no power, there they are with bread, milk, and eggs,” he said. “Supermarket chains - if they’ve got good supply chains and have labor policies that will encourage labor to come in and brave the elements - can get enormous goodwill.”

Walmart became a community center after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans back in 2005.

“Only Walmart was open, post-Katrina, and they bought themselves a tremendous amount of goodwill by being there when city and government services were not,” Kummer said. “And that’s the case with H-E-B during the recent Texas power outages.”

Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.