Root and Reach Technologies
A broad old valley oak standing in a green meadow under a clear blue sky

Fresh food, within everyone's reach.

Root and Reach Technologies is a nonprofit serving Lake and Mendocino Counties, California. We build simple tools and give hands-on help so our neighbors can find and afford fresh, local food.

Try Price Scout Meet the founders
Photo: Hasmodius / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Vision and mission

A local food system where everyone can find and afford fresh food.

We use technology and hands-on community work to make food more affordable and more local. That means:

  • Free grocery price information for local households, starting with Ukiah stores, so every shopping trip goes further.
  • Food budgeting help that makes it easier to plan meals around what's on sale.
  • Gardening and food preserving education, from planting starts to canning the harvest.
  • Community goods exchange, connecting neighbors who have extra with neighbors who need it.

What we do

Helping good food projects get started

We give time and skills to help launch positive businesses that address foodshed issues in Lake and Mendocino Counties. Our first trial project is Price Scout, which we use to test and refine this support.

  • Tech consulting hours to plan and set up the tools a new business needs.
  • Website building, from a simple page to an online store.
  • Hands-on task hours for the everyday work of getting a business off the ground.

How we started

It began with a rooster.

Root and Reach began with a rooster. Sarah gave one to Johanna's family, and over that hand-off the two got talking about gardens, good food, and whether simple apps could make a real difference in their local foodshed. They decided to find out.

Meet the founders

Two neighbors from Lake and Mendocino Counties

Johanna Griffin

Technical Co-founder

Johanna has spent more than ten years helping developers ship, from technical support to a senior team lead role at CircleCI, with work in developer tooling, CI/CD and the Ripple (XRP) ecosystem along the way. At Root and Reach she builds the technology behind our tools, bringing together her love of regenerative agriculture, smart software workflows and practical AI.

Sarah Thompson

Co-founder

Sarah studied soil science and spent years in animal control before co-founding Root and Reach. She's a longtime active member of her community and believes goods exchange is a powerful way for neighbors to support one another. Sarah shapes our plans, vision and roadmap, and leads our social media.

Our work

Price Scout

Compare grocery prices across Ukiah

pricescout-us.com · iOS, Android and the web

Price Scout compares grocery prices across Ukiah stores, including Raley's, Grocery Outlet and Safeway, so you can see who has the best price before you leave home. Price comparison is free for everyone. Prices come from local shoppers, store staff and daily updates, so they reflect what's really on the shelf.

Price Scout Premium, a $4.99 monthly upgrade through the App Store, adds Smart Split, which divides your shopping list across stores to save the most, and price alerts that tell you when something you buy goes on sale. Premium is free for anyone on CalFresh, WIC or Medi-Cal: just email support@pricescout-us.com and we'll turn it on for your account.

Price Scout starts with grocery stores in Ukiah. We plan to grow it nationwide, so families anywhere can see local prices before they shop.

  • Price comparison (free)
  • Smart Split (Premium)
  • Price alerts (Premium)
  • Shopping lists

Contact

Say hello

We'd love to hear from neighbors, local growers and anyone who wants to help.

Get in touch