This community of practice (CoP) was hosted and filmed on the 3rd of June 2024. It was organised to meet the demand from Food Summit (21st September 2023) participants to learn more about mixed income models for community food provisions in North Yorkshire and York.
Background
Adele Wilson-Hope (North Yorkshire Council) provided the context for this CoP by explaining how research completed in 2022 and 2023 had found mixed income models across the UK to likely be more viable and able to iterate around a community’s dynamic food needs. They were unlikely to be focused solely on emergency response. Instead, their enterprising element would not only make the local provisions more viable longer-term, but it could also promote more enfranchisement, ownership and dignity by their communities. Mixed income models encourage reciprocity. Models can look very different, and it is not unusual to see, for example, a community hub offering paid for services, perhaps a paid for food element as part of that (café or social supermarket) that uses any financial surplus towards its social good – which can include free food access.
Description
This CoP explored two different ‘mixed income models’ that were wildly different in their scale and local demographic – but that nevertheless contained that enterprising ingredient whilst also focused on helping individuals in their community help themselves, contribute and feel a sense of belonging.
In the recording you will hear firstly from Joseph Chow Head of Impact, Company Shop. Joseph talks about the opening of Eastfield Community Shop in 2023 and how their model – one of 14 now open across the UK. Company Shop created the UK’s first social supermarket, and now has a model they say works in the deprived communities wherein they are purposely situated. The model comprises 3 elements of a social supermarket, a community kitchen and a community hub.
Atter that you will hear from Liz Lockey (Chief Officer) and Pam Nutbrown of Hambleton Community Action and of their journey towards the opening of ‘UpFront’ in Northallerton in June 2023, which offers a community space, multiple wellbeing activities and services as well as a food pantry (social supermarket) that started in November 2023.
Eastfield Community Shop
Joseph explained the history of Community Shop and agreed with Adele that their model provides food access with dignity and how it also empowered people as well as giving them some food citizenship.
He explained the paradox that there are 9.7mn adults experiencing food insecurity in the past month and yet 3mn tonnes of edible food waste goes to waste every year equating to 7mn meals – “perfectly edible food” that could be used through different models of community food provision.
“We’re a commercial social enterprise offering a multi-functional social supermarket,” he goes on to explain. The company brokers large scale agreements with over 800 retailers and manufacturers (large corporate organisations), securing food and other items that can be sold in their community shop network as 30-50% of the retailer price “so members ger great value for money. The average shopping basket is £11. All fruit and veg is 20p what we call plenty for twenty.’ It’s offering healthy accessible food in disenfranchised communities.”
All staff are paid, and overheads covered by profit in our stores. Theirs is a self-sustaining model that removes the precarious nature of food supply from the equation, often something that other models will struggle with.
The supermarket model provides means tested benefit for people to access it and the wider services offered by Community Shop, which is, in turn inspired by something called the ‘Food Ladder.’
“Community Shop was created to help prevent people from falling off the ladder completely and becoming a crisis point?”
Please see our Community of Practice – Place Based Collaborative Models and Food Ladders – York and North Yorkshire Covid Recovery Insight Project: Food Insecurity (skyblue.org.uk) for more details about this.
Jospeh goes on to explain how part of their job is to get people back into mainstream retail and being economically active, and so the elements of support in their community hubs (including ‘Progress Academy’ helping people with training and return to work) and community kitchen help build confidence and skills towards that purpose.
“We focus on behavioural activation knowing that taking part in something that makes you feel good, is valued more and will likely lead to further positive action by an individual.”
The Community Shop model employs Chef Educators so as well as the space offering a café it also has the kitchen and can provide food education courses & culinary education.
“Breakfast / lunch with a drink are £1.50. We never profit from community kitchen but products from community store subsidises this social and educational element.”
Finally, Joseph said that they “would never have gone to Eastfield or had the foresight to go there if McCains hadn’t wanted to do something; they wanted to reinvest back into this community. McCains said they would provide stock every month if we could deliver Community Shop. We worked with fantastic individuals at the legacy centre – where the Eastfield Community Shop is now based; they allowed us to come into that space and transform it into Community Shop – wonderful people! Eastfield is a pioneer example of everything we’ve done and learned over the past 10 years.”
Look out for the great questions asked by CoP contributors in the film. There was curiosity from smaller VCSE / community food provisions about what they could take from the Community Shop model given the difference in approach and scale; curiosity about the potential for the Community Shop model to work in other locations; and great connections being made between Community Shop and North Yorkshire Together with thoughts on how to maximise the different provider and corporate relationships between them for the benefit of the Holiday Activities Fund.
UpFront Hambleton Community Action
Liz started her presentation by saying: “We’re a very small model unlike Community Shop.” An important point to make as it helps us recognise that enterprising / mixed income models can work at very different scales of operation, but nevertheless share some things in common.
Liz explains that Hambleton Community Action “likes to do things differently and wanted to tackle lots of things in one go.” Through active listening in their communities the seed of an idea formed around wanting to do something in parallel around offering a warm welcome, the cost of living and food waste. At the time, a creative café that acted as a training place for young people to become baristas had closed too. They had the makings of a model without a home.
Serendipity next played its part. An unexpected phone call in January 2023 led ultimately to the opportunity to take on some physical space; an unexpected outcome from an interview process led to a job being created to support the food pantry ingredient of the model – and in June 2023 ‘UpFront’ opened.
This new community space at 159/160 High Street in Northallerton encourages people to find out about the many services the charity offers and also the opportunities available to volunteer. It is a social space with a communal sitting area, free hot drinks and access to IT facilities and the internet. There is also a community jigsaw and book swap facilities, while local groups are able to reserve some of the space for meetings and activities. (Source: Upfront Northallerton community hub hailed as success | Darlington and Stockton Times)
Liz explained that: “Framing is important. We don’t talk about cost of living or loneliness we talk about reducing waste.”
Pam spoke about the Food Pantry and how listening to their local community was essential to help make decisions about what to stock and doing it in a way that would promote dignity and choice.
“People wanted choice, the freedom to eat what they chose, to have access to fresh food, milk and cheese, fruit and veg, nappies, nice smelling laundry liquids and eco friendly products.”
“There are 5 members of staff involved and we collect from 6 supermarkets across Hambleton and Richmondshire. There is also a café area operated on a give, or pay, as you feel basis.”
The pantry (which is a social supermarket) business model is still developing as UpFront reaches its first birthday in June 2024. Fundraising has helped as have different fresh produce donated by local people from their allotments in some cases. The team are proud of its 5 star rating from environmental health. They care about the feedback from people using it too and you will see lots of moving quotations in the film.
“We do everything we can to make sure it’s run well and a good choice of products and sustainability of products. We are trying to use as much surplus food as we can. Nothing goes to waste here. “
There is creativity around the use of food to encourage healthy choices whether through weekly recipe swaps, cooking demonstrations, soup and smoothie making in many forms to make it easier for people to access nutritious food rather than pass it over. The team have supported those unable to afford to make some of this food too so there is an intentional effort to stock healthy food in the pantry rather than, for example, processed food.
Because the pantry is situated as part of a wider business model it also means people find it easier to access the other services at Hambleton Community Action. The combination of food and a safe community space encourages conversations, in turn leading to more people feeling supported.
A final reflection is that UpFront is getting people coming from a much wider area than expected.
“We thought it would only get people from Northallerton, but people are coming from Bedale and much further afield because they like the model.”
What next?
CoP participants from around York and North Yorkshire showed curiosity in these approaches, but there is little doubt that as a topic, mixed income models is more difficult than some of the others we have covered in 2023 and 2024.
The film and presentation slides found on this page can help others looking to know more about each approach and make connections.
For further inspiration you may like to look at the short reports and presentation slides that include examples of mixed income models here:
Community hubs, food hubs and clubs
Community hubs, food hubs and clubs models 211222
Community hubs, food hubs and clubs Covid-19 Insights Project 241122
Low cost community food retail
Low cost community food retail 181122
Low Cost Community Food Retail Covid-19 Insights Project 181122
SUSTAIN have also produced this helpful toolkit should you be looking to grow your community food enterprise
Growing Community Food Enterprises toolkit | Sustain (sustainweb.org)
If you would like to know more or have an idea you want to develop with others across North Yorkshire and York please contact Adele.Wilson-Hope@northyorks.gov.uk.