ESCONDIDO -- In an inconspicuous corner of an unremarkable industrial park near Highway 78, Tommy Cruz and his wife Roxann run what could best be described as the polar opposite of a standard supermarket.

Instead of sprawling aisles of hundreds of products, rows of simple wooden shelves filled with one brand of each type of product line the shallow, narrow warehouse. Boxes of dented canned fruit and trays of bread clutter the floor of the couple's business, Hope Food, Inc.

But what really sets Hope Food apart is the price. Customers pay just $25. In return, they receive groceries worth about $60 to $100, delivered directly to their house.

"It depends on what customers we get in," said Tommy Cruz, who opened up shop last week. "If they don't have any money, they'll still leave here with food."

The couple's mission, after all, is one of faith, Cruz said, and that means serving the region's neediest, no matter who that may be.

"You would think an agency like this would serve just the homeless," Cruz said of the three dozen or so clients who've already showed up at Hope Food. "That's not true. We (also) see people who lost their business and their pride has just been devastated."

To bring in customers, the organization works with a network of local social service agencies and congregations like the one at Church of Christ, which can buy vouchers for their needy parishioners.

Cruz fills each delivery with cans of fruits, sacks of bread and boxes of granola, heads of cabbage, and gallons of milk and juice until the grocery cart he pushes down the aisle is brimming with sacks of food.

The bread and pastries are donated each week by local grocery stores.

The remainder of the merchandise comes from Western Eagle Foundation, a Temecula nonprofit that collects surplus and damaged groceries from supermarkets and distributes them to food banks such as Hope Food, in an arrangement similar to the one Cruz offers his shoppers.

Customers' payments go toward covering the organization's $3,000 monthly costs, including rent and food purchases from Western Eagle, Cruz said.

The food bank, which is in the process of applying for nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service, is a reinvention of the Hope for the Children Foundation, a ministry opened by another Escondido couple.

The Cruzes worked and volunteered at that agency before its operators -- Stacy and Jennifer Duty -- closed the store in February to concentrate on their relief effort in New Orleans.

"We're carrying the torch," said Cruz, 46, who worked as a machine operator with an irrigation company before joining Hope for the Children as its manager last year.

Stacy Duty said his organization helps at least 125 families each week with food purchases.

And Hope for the Children's customers say they are glad to see the Cruzes continuing the tradition.

Jeanne Harris has stopped by the food bank regularly for more than a year to pick up items for her and her daughter. When the Dutys shut down operations, Harris said she immediately began praying for the agency to reopen.

The 44-year-old Escondido resident lives off her disability payments, and relies primarily on government food stamps for her groceries. But every few weeks, her cupboards start becoming bare before her next allocation, and she makes her way to Hope, as she did Friday.

Some shoppers might look at the assortment of damaged packages or dated seasonal products, such as cans of cranberry or boxes of matzos, and feel like they were receiving food nobody else wanted.

But Harris said the changing selection is half the fun, and the quality can't be beat.

"Every time you come, you get something different," said Harris as she picked up a basket full of frozen shrimp, juice and milk for her and a friend. "A lot of people are out there that are on (Social Security) and this program really can help them, because you don't get that much to live on."

As for their own income, Tommy Cruz said the couple is living off their savings, and literally praying that they make ends meet.

To open the store, the couple took out a loan on their Murrieta home, and had to fork over some $17,000 for permits and paperwork before they could slide open the steel door to their warehouse.

The money they invested could easily have been used as seed money for a more profitable venture, Cruz said, and the risk of failure hangs with them every day. He would not have it any other way.

"That's what faith is," Cruz said.

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.