Mayor Brandon Johnson announced a sweeping new strategy Thursday to expand food access across Chicago, calling for a network of year-round indoor public markets concentrated in the city's historically underserved South and West sides. The Market City Action Plan also calls for administrative infrastructure to support food entrepreneurs and continued backing for existing farmers markets, marking the latest shift in an effort that began three years ago as a proposal for a city-owned grocery store.
Johnson signed an executive order establishing a steering committee of city departments and community members to carry out the plan, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He also appointed Aaliayah Romer as the city's manager of food equity to lead the initiative. “This executive order moves that vision into action so we can deliver lasting solutions shaped by the needs of our neighborhoods,” Johnson said, according to the outlet's report by Mariah Rush.
The plan's goal, Johnson said, is to make Chicago a “market city” — a community-responsive food system paired with opportunities for local entrepreneurs. He said Chicagoans had made clear they wanted their entrepreneurial efforts and the existing food ecosystem strengthened rather than replaced outright.
From City-Owned Grocery Store to Public Markets
Johnson first floated the idea of a publicly owned grocery store back in 2023, and a city-commissioned study the following year concluded the concept was “necessary, feasible and implementable,” according to the Chicago Tribune. But the administration walked back that proposal in early 2025, pivoting instead toward opening public markets after the feasibility study, and Johnson formally proposed a public market later that year.
As of last fall, the mayor's office still had not decided on the basic structure of the market or markets — including size, location, number or operating model, the Tribune reported. The city held listening sessions in September 2025 with farmers-market managers, urban farmers, developers and retailers, feeding into a report meant to serve as a roadmap for expanding food access, equity and entrepreneurship. Thursday's announcement states the Market City Action Plan was developed over the preceding year in collaboration with the Chicago Food Equity Council, the Greater Chicago Food Depository and community stakeholders including residents, entrepreneurs, farmers and market operators.
Johnson said the city is still weighing whether it would own or operate the public markets itself, or whether it may instead provide support to others running them. The mayor's office plans to release a public request for information next month to help identify potential market sites and operators.
Food Insecurity Hits Hardest on South and West Sides
The stakes are significant. The Greater Chicago Food Depository reported that 51% of South Side households and 45% of West Side households are food insecure and lack consistent access to enough food, with the Southwest Side not far behind at 41%. A separate Greater Chicago Food Depository report found that as of June, 36% of Chicago households — roughly 417,000 households citywide — lacked consistent access to enough food, with the organization describing the crisis as worsening as families weigh tradeoffs between food, rent and other essentials.
Since 2021, food prices in the Chicago metro area have climbed 22% and rent has jumped 31%, according to the food bank's data. Households with children have been hit especially hard: 47% reported struggling to put food on the table, compared with 30% of households without children. A separate survey from NORC similarly found that 36 percent of Chicago adults live in households experiencing food insecurity, with higher rates among households with children and those on the South, West and Southwest sides.
Grocery Closures Add Urgency
The plan arrives months after Yellow Banana closed seven Save A Lot stores on the South and West sides in July, some just a year after they opened. At the time, Johnson said the city hoped to find a new operator for the shuttered locations — whether through a public market, a farmers market or another grocer — telling reporters those neighborhoods have struggled with consistent fresh grocery access for years, per the Tribune's earlier coverage.
The city has also been building out support for smaller-scale food access in the meantime. In August, Chicago announced $450,000 in Neighborhood Market Grant Program microgrants to support existing grocers and markets, funded through the Chicago Road to Recovery Plan with Allies for Community Business contributing toward the pool, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Grants of up to $10,000 can go toward equipment, market operations, marketing and outreach, and improvements that help vendors operate year-round.
Ruby Ferguson of the Greater Chicago Food Depository said the first visible results of the broader plan may simply be additional farmers market support heading into the 2027 season, which could include financial assistance or marketing help for vendors rather than a fully built public market right away. The city directly operates farmers markets in the Loop and Gold Coast, while community partners operate markets in Pullman, Austin Town Hall and Bronzeville with DCASE support, according to the City of Chicago.
Looking to Other Cities' Public Markets
Chicago's effort follows models in other cities that have tried to anchor food access around public markets. In Madison, Wisconsin, a partnership between the city and the Madison Public Market Foundation is transforming a former municipal building into a marketplace anchored by 28 vendors. In New York, La Marqueta in East Harlem runs an incubator kitchen program that gives small, artisanal and ethnic food entrepreneurs production space to grow their businesses.
For now, Chicago's own markets remain undefined in scope and location, with the request for information next month expected to be the next concrete step toward identifying where — and how — the city's market city vision takes shape.
