Starting a Food Group

There are plenty of legitimate excuses for not being able to boycott supermarkets and rely purely on farmers markets and organic box schemes. The area in which you live, for example, may simply not be serviced by such enterprises and, even if they are, supermarkets still provide products which you cannot find easily elsewhere.

One way of overcoming this is through starting or joining a local food-buying group. The basic idea of a Food Group is that, by pooling together with neighbours and others within the community, the group is able to make bulk purchases through wholesalers. Ideally, order from one of the wholesalers listed in this toolkit, since they all sell certified organic goods, along with other ecological household products, like washing powders and detergents.

A recent study conducted by The Ecologist magazine compared the costs of one wholesaler with Tesco’s on-line store over a range of ten basic products and found the wholesaler’s price 29% cheaper than the supermarket. Not only will you be saving nearly a third of your average spend, you will also be saving the planet by cutting down on ‘food miles’, processing, packaging and, as a result, on CO2 emissions.

It makes sense - economically and ecologically.

How to Start a Food Group:

1. The group will need to meet the minimum order limit from the wholesaler each time and on a regular basis, so needs to demonstrate that it is efficiently run and organised. Chose a wholesaler from the list below and open a dialogue with them: what is the minimum order; where and when do they deliver; how do you make payment?
    
2. Having established the requirements, try and recruit the requisite number to your group to meet the minimum order on a regular basis. Maybe outline your plans and the requirements on a small leaflet and distribute through your block of flats, your street, your village, your neighbours? Or circulate an e-mail amongst those you know locally who are like-minded and most likely to subscribe?
    
3. Liaise between yourselves and with the wholesaler to establish a convenient and accessible location for delivery. Obviously, whoever’s house / flat / office is chosen must have the space to take delivery and then to divide bulk orders into appropriate containers. Ideally, each member of the group will invest in reusable storage containers to facilitate this process.
    
4. Another primary role in the Group is collating and submitting the order. This can of course be rotated. Orders will generally be placed monthly, or bi-monthly, so chose a deadline date for each member to place their order. This might conveniently be done by group e-mail, so that each member of the group can see who is ordering what, and thus offer to go halves on a bulk product which is too much for one person or family.
    
5. Likewise, the summary breakdown of costs can be circulated electronically, and each member of the Group pay directly into one centralised bank account to make things easy. Alternatively, agree to meet once a month, down the pub, in the park, or at someone’s house, where this can all be sorted out over a drink or a meal - which has bit more of a community ring to it!
    
6. If your group works well and expands, why not think about starting a formally structured food-buying co-operative? You can access a food-buying co-operative model through UK Cooperatives, a nationwide umbrella group for co-op enterprises - www.co-opunion.coop/live/welcome.asp - or ring their legal team on 0161 246 2900. Bear in mind that formally trading co-ops like this, running on minimal profits, can be a very effective way of bringing healthy food and good nutrition to socially deprived areas.
    

Recommended Wholesalers:

Goodness Wholefoods - 01327 706611 - Northants
www.goodness.co.uk
Nationwide delivery and min order £200-350, depending on area.

Suma - 0845 458 2290 - West Yorks
www.suma.co.uk
Nationwide delivery and min order £200

Essential Trading - 01179 583550 - Bristol
www.essential-trading.co.uk
Nationwide delivery and min order £200

Infinity Foods - 01273 424060 - East Sussex
www.infinityfoods.co.uk
South-east delivery and min order £350

Green City Wholefoods - 0141 5547 633 - Glasgow
www.greencity.co.uk
Scotland delivery and min order £150-200. (Groups must register as food co-ops and Green City has a food co-op policy to regulate this.)

Lembas Wholefoods - 0845 458 1585 - Sheffield
www.lembas.co.uk
North and Midlands delivery and min order £200

Rainbow Wholefoods - 01603 630 484 - Norwich
www.rainbowwholefoods.co.uk
East Anglia delivery and min order £150

www.theecologist.co.uk