Ashley Tyrner-Dolce knows what it's like to struggle to afford healthy food for her family.

A little over a decade ago, she was a single mom relying on food stamps and Medicaid. Now, Tyrner-Dolce is the founder and CEO of FarmboxRx, which aims to deliver healthy foods to low-income Americans in food deserts through their health insurance plans.

The subscription-based business brought in roughly $55 million in annual revenue as recently as 2023, according to a company spokesperson. FarmboxRx is free of cost for its users: Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance providers pay for the grocery deliveries, as a means of preventative health care.

The company became profitable in 2022, and currently partners with more than 80 different health plans, says Tyrner-Dolce, 41.

In 2011, Tyrner-Dolce and her newborn daughter moved to New York from Arizona looking to start fresh. Living in the Big Apple wasn't glamorous: She crashed with friends, relied on government assistance for food and lugged her groceries through the subways, she says.

She landed a role as a business manager in the fashion industry, and got off food stamps — now known in New York as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits — a year later at age 25. Her living situation improved over the next few years, but her trips to the grocery store never did, Tyrner-Dolce says. Finding affordable, healthy food was difficult, as was hauling heavy bags home on her own.

In 2014, she left her corporate job to launch FarmboxRx. She used three years' worth of savings — about $80,000 originally meant to go toward buying a house, she says — to cover startup costs like branding and marketing, a warehouse and legal fees. She cut down on her personal expenses, moving into a small, one-bedroom apartment with her daughter while reselling toys on eBay to bring in additional cash.

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Initially, FarmboxRx was a direct-to-consumer service: Customers subscribed, and received fresh produce on their doorsteps. Tyrner-Dolce wanted to find a way for health plans to help pay for the food, but investors didn't share her vision at first, she says.

"Every VC wanted to turn us into a meal kit," says Tyrner-Dolce. But "I don't take no for an answer. I like to say I'm a rhino. I can't ever turn around and look back. I have to just charge forward."

FarmboxRx reportedly reached $1 million in annual revenue in 2019, off those produce subscriptions. That money largely covered the business' expenses, leaving comparatively little for payroll, including Tyrner-Dolce's own salary, she says. But she learned something important that year: Some Medicare and Medicaid users could access discounted and free produce as part of their health plans.

Tyrner-Dolce reached out to "80 to 100 health plans," hoping to land a partnership, she says. She struck up one with Vibra Health Plan, owned by Blue Cross Blue Shield, in 2020. Two years later, FarmboxRx had enough health plan partners to completely leave the direct-to-consumer market.

"That's when we became profitable," says Tyrner-Dolce, adding that her company still hasn't taken any external funding.

FarmboxRx isn't the only business with a similar idea. Companies like Mom's Meals and Performance Kitchen similarly sell meal kits online through health plans, and the global healthy food market is expected to reach over $890 billion this year, says a Future Market Insights report.

Major retailers like Instacart, Uber Eats, Kroger and Walmart offer nutrition-based food programs, partnerships or grocery stipends. And the online grocery industry is projected to grow by $1.2 trillion between from 2024 to 2028, according to market research company Technavio.

Tyrner-Dolce says she's confident she can keep growing her business amid increased competition. On March 18, FarmboxRx announced a social needs platform called Driver's Health that offers a broader swath of resources and in-home delivery items, meant for other wellness-related struggles like housing and transportation.

"Tackling diet-related disease is about education, affordability and access," says Tyrner-Dolce. "You have to bring many prongs together to solve this issue."

This story has been updated to reflect that FarmboxRx brought in roughly $55 million in annual revenue in 2023, according to a company spokesperson.

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