Entrepreneur For Good: Sheldon Lloyd

What does it look like to build a business from 100 meals a day to 30,000, survive a pandemic on the front lines, become employee-owned, and then launch a whole new nonprofit because the need is still not fully met? For Sheldon Lloyd, it looks like just another chapter in a life built around mission.

In this episode of Mode to Joy, host Monica Lyles sits down with her longtime friend Sheldon Lloyd, co-founder, past CEO, and current board member of City Fresh Foods, a Boston-based food company that has spent more than 30 years feeding seniors, students, and communities while quietly building generational wealth for its employees. Sheldon opens up about the hurdles, the pivots, the pandemic, and the new venture that keeps him up at night in the best possible way.

This is a conversation about what it really means to build something that matters, and to keep going when mission is the fuel.

Listen below, or via your favorite podcast player.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

  • How City Fresh Foods grew from a 1,200 square foot kitchen in Nubian Square to serving 30,000 meals a day across Massachusetts

  • The origin story: a Teach for America brother, a produce stand, and a neighbor who just wanted to eat what she grew up with

  • What it meant to become employee-owned on Juneteenth in 2019, and why that timing was intentional

  • The striking wealth gap study that showed the average Boston family of color had roughly $8 in net worth compared to $250,000 for white families, and how City Fresh has tried to change that

  • What it was like to run a food production company during the pandemic, including delivering meals himself

  • The landscaping company, the Kodak career, the Ginger Kids multicultural baking concept, and how every chapter prepared Sheldon perfectly for what came next

  • Why tennis taught him to win, and how that competitive spirit showed up in business

  • His new nonprofit venture called Family Fresh, a supper club model bringing dignified, healthy meals to community centers

  • What his mother taught him about giving, and his father taught him about discipline

  • His advice for anyone who wants to build a mission-driven business

Key Takeaways

→ Mission is the fuel that keeps you going. Sheldon has been at this for more than 30 years. Not profit, not accolades, not titles. The mission to feed people and create opportunity in his community is what got him out of bed through every setback.

→ Every chapter of your career is preparing you for the next one. Landscaping, banking, Kodak, Ginger Kids. It all looked random from the outside, but every experience built exactly the skills Sheldon needed when City Fresh needed him.

→ Employee ownership is a real path to generational wealth. At a time when Boston families of color had nearly no net worth, City Fresh found a way to let the people who built the company own a piece of it. That is a legacy that outlasts any contract.

→ Lead from the front, especially in a crisis. When drivers called out during the pandemic, Sheldon was out delivering meals himself. That kind of leadership earns a team's loyalty in ways that no policy manual ever could.

→ Networking is not optional. Sheldon credits the ability to get a meeting with almost anyone as one of the foundational tools of City Fresh's success. His advice to the next generation: get off your screens and go sit down with people.

→ There is always more need. Even after 30 years and 30,000 meals a day, Sheldon saw the gaps and started something new. The best social entrepreneurs do not rest on what they have built. They keep looking for who is still being left out.

About Sheldon Lloyd

Sheldon Lloyd is the co-founder, past CEO, and current board member of City Fresh Foods, a Boston-based food company serving seniors, schools, day cares, and community institutions across Massachusetts. Founded alongside his brother Glenn, City Fresh grew from a small nonprofit kitchen in Nubian Square in the early 1990s to a for-profit company now producing 30,000 meals daily from its third location. In 2019, the company became employee-owned through a stock purchase plan, completing a vision the brothers had held since the beginning.

Sheldon is also the founder of Family Fresh, a new nonprofit supper club model bringing affordable, healthy, dignified meals to community spaces across the Boston area. Before City Fresh, he built a career in banking, corporate sales at Kodak, and entrepreneurship, including the multicultural baking product Ginger Kids, which landed in Macy's. He is a former competitive tennis player and a lifelong connector.

Resources and References Mentioned

  • City Fresh Foods, Boston: cityfreshfoods.com

  • Family Fresh (supper club nonprofit, in development)

  • Teach for America

  • Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square), Roxbury, Boston

  • Boys and Girls Club of America

To learn more about City Fresh Foods, visit their website here.

About Mode To Joy

Mode to Joy is hosted by Monica Lyle, and explores the intersection of passion and profession. After 30 years as an executive coach, Monica is on a mission to help more people do what they love and love what they do. Each episode features a guest who has found a way to make their life's work feel like their life's calling. May their stories inspire you to find your own way to bring more life to your work and joy to your life.

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