The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank has been named one of the 2026 Best Places to Work in San Diego by the San Diego Business Journal, ranking No. 28 among medium companies (50 to 149 employees). Of the organizations honored in that category, only one other nonprofit ranked ahead of the San Diego Food Bank.
Most of the companies recognized alongside the Food Bank operate in finance, law, technology, and other for-profit industries, which makes this distinction a notable one for a mission-driven organization competing on the same scale as the region’s private sector.
How the Best Places to Work Ranking Works
The recognition comes from a two-part assessment conducted independently by the San Diego Business Journal and Workforce Research Group. Employers complete a detailed questionnaire covering benefits, policies, and workplace practices, which accounts for 20 percent of the final score. The remaining 80 percent comes directly from employees, who respond to a confidential survey capturing their honest experience of working at the organization.
Results are scored across nine focus areas, such as role satisfaction, leadership, diversity and inclusion, workplace culture, training and technology, benefits, and work-life balance.
Because employee feedback carries the majority of the weight, the ranking reflects what staff members actually experience day to day, not just what an organization states in its policies.
Why This Recognition Matters for a Mission-Driven Organization
Nonprofit work often asks staff to do more with less. Tight budgets and the emotional weight of addressing hunger in San Diego County are part of the job. A ranking built primarily on employee feedback shows that the people carrying out that work, from programs staff coordinating distributions across the county to food sourcing team members recovering surplus food, feel supported in doing it.
A Culture Built to Match the Mission
Distributing over 50 million pounds of food each year and reaching 400,000 San Diegans a month takes operational precision. It also takes a team that wants to stay to master the work, and the Food Bank’s tenure tells its own story about workplace culture.
This year, David Ruiz, Inventory Control Coordinator at our Miramar warehouse, celebrated 21 years with the organization, a place he first came to know as a child when his own family relied on the Food Bank for food. CEO Casey Castillo has spent more than 18 years with the organization, having joined as CFO before stepping into his current role. In June, a warehouse & delivery driver marked 16 years with the Food Bank, and two food center employees will celebrate their 15-year anniversaries this fall.
Tenure like that reflects an organization where people build careers, and where growth from an entry-level role into leadership is a lived example rather than an aspiration.
“This ranking is decided almost entirely by our own staff, which makes it mean something different than an award we’d apply for ourselves. It tells us that the people doing the hardest work here, the ones stacking pallets of food in the warehouse at 6 a.m. or fielding calls from a senior who needs help getting groceries, feel like this is a place worth showing up for.”
— Cole Williamson, Vice President of Administration
Join the Team
The San Diego Food Bank is frequently hiring across departments, from warehouse and logistics roles to programs and administration. Take a look at our current openings and the leadership team guiding our hunger-relief efforts.