Does My Food Bank Require Service Insights or Link2Feed? (2026)
Short answer: if your pantry is a partner agency of a food bank, ask your food bank. Many food banks give partner agencies an intake system (Feeding America’s Service Insights, Link2Feed, FreshTrak (formerly PantryTrak), Oasis Insight and others) and some write its use into the partner agreement. If yours does, use what it requires. If your pantry is independent, or your food bank leaves the choice to you, you can choose your own software.
Why partner agencies should use what the food bank requires
A partner agency gets food, and often USDA Foods through TEFAP, through its food bank. The food bank answers to its state agency for TEFAP records, so it decides how its agencies keep and send them. Often that means one intake system that the state agency has approved for TEFAP recordkeeping. Three examples from food banks’ own pages:
- Capital Area Food Bank (DC, Maryland, Virginia) says Service Insights is “already in your Shopping Partner Agreement”, is “officially approved for TEFAP recordkeeping in Virginia, Maryland, and DC”, and has “no cost to use the software”. It is helping partners still on Link2Feed, its older system, to switch.
- Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma said in its May 2026 update that it will end its Link2Feed partnership “when the current contract ends in November” and move partners to Service Insights, which it gets “at no cost as a Feeding America member”. Its goal is for all partners to be on Service Insights by October, ahead of the contract end on 30 November.
- Lowcountry Food Bank (South Carolina) says the South Carolina Department of Agriculture requires the food bank and its partner agencies to use Link2Feed to keep taking part in TEFAP.
Using your food bank’s system usually means your monthly reports roll up without retyping, and a household that registered once is recognised across the network. Switching on your own can leave you keeping two sets of TEFAP paperwork. Rules vary by state agency and by food bank, so the answer for your pantry comes from your agency relations contact, not from a software vendor (including us).
Intake systems food banks provide
| System | Who provides it | Cost to the pantry | What to ask your food bank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Insights on MealConnect | Feeding America, through member food banks | Provided by your food bank (food banks we checked list it at no cost) | Is it required in our partner agreement? When do we start, and is there training? |
| Link2Feed | Link2Feed, usually through your food bank | Provided by your food bank where it uses Link2Feed; no published price for direct purchase | Are you keeping Link2Feed, or moving to Service Insights? When does the change happen? |
| FreshTrak:Service (formerly PantryTrak) | Mid-Ohio Food Collective, adopted by food banks | Provided by your food bank where it uses FreshTrak; no published price | Is FreshTrak required for our TEFAP records? |
| Oasis Insight | Simon Solutions | From $20 per user per month (published price) | Do you provide Oasis Insight logins, or do we buy our own? |
| PantryPOS | 0xpi, bought by the pantry | $39 a month for the first location; 30-day free trial, no card | Can we report to you from our own system? Which format do you accept? |
Questions to ask your agency relations contact
- Does our partner agreement require a specific intake or reporting system?
- Which system does our state agency accept for TEFAP records at our pantry?
- If we serve non-TEFAP households or run programs outside the network, can we use our own software for those?
- If we use our own software, what do you need from us each month, and in what format?
- Is a system change coming (for example, Link2Feed to Service Insights), and when?
When PantryPOS fits
PantryPOS is for pantries that choose their own software:
- independent or unaffiliated pantries that don’t get food through a food bank network;
- church pantries outside a network (church pantry guide);
- pantries whose food bank leaves the choice of system to them.
It covers intake and check-in with TEFAP records, client-choice checkout, FIFO inventory with expiration dates, lot-level recall tracing, fridge and freezer temperature logs, donations with tax receipts, and an offline mode. It exports monthly totals as CSV or JSON. If your food bank provides Service Insights, the intake system covers who you serve; PantryPOS can run the food side alongside it. Price: $39 a month for the first location, $29 for each added location up to ten, every feature included, with a 30-day free trial and no card.
Still on paper either way? Two free tools, no sign-up: the printable intake form (English or Spanish, with the TEFAP self-declaration) and the fridge and freezer temperature log.