Community supermarkets may be coming to the UK

One alternative to the increasing number of food banks may be community supermarkets. Various experts and think tanks, such as Demos, are starting to see the value in opening more of these across the UK. They can be an effective alternative for ending food poverty and feeding the hungry.

The fact is that many families are turning to either Trussell Trust or independent food banks because they are struggling to keep up with the ever increasing cost of living and stagnant incomes. However, studies show that people are hesitant to turn to them as it can be upsetting emotionally and people also feel as if they lost their independence. So this is where the use of a community supermarkets can help.

While there are a few already in the UK, relative to other nations the number is small. Many nations have an abundance of community supermarkets, and they even have more than one type of them as noted below. There are many advantages to this model over the more traditional food banks.

Advantages of community supermarkets vs. food banks

While no solution is ever perfect, there are several reasons that the supermarket model may be better. When someone needs a parcel today, they will turn to a food bank. However, these organisations will only provide very limited assistance. Usually a parcel of up to three days of groceries, and many limit the usage to only a few times per year. This means a family on a low income may only receive enough food to last from 10-20 days per year.

They are also for dealing with a crisis. However clients also need a referral from a job centre, social worker, GP, or charity, and these can take time to get. So this in effect prevents the food bank from meeting one of its key goals.

The alternative, community supermarkets, are much more flexible. Anyone can use the site whenever they want. They are open to both low income families or just other households looking to save money. The centers will sell food at reduced prices, often below market prices. There will be groceries, tinned items, coffee, and hundreds of other items sold at most community supermarkets.

There are different types of supermarkets set up in other countries, such as the US or Australia. These can easily be recreated in the UK. One example, the food cooperative, is often employee owned and the people that shop at the cooperative need to also contribute to its operation. So this helps the individual gain skills as well as discounted food.

People can combined their income as part of buying clubs. The owner of the community supermarket combines the buying power of the members, and then order are placed with distributors. It can provide produce, canned groceries, and really anything. There may be thousands of members in the buying club, and the the combined buying power will reduce the price they need to pay for their food by cutting out the “middle man”.

Community supermarkets can also be big box produce stores. These schemes mostly focus on produce. It also relies on members to order a certain type of healthy food and it will even be delivered to their home. A key advantage to setting up this model in the UK would be the food provided tends to be healthier.

The last option is discounts on unsold food or excess stock. The supermarket could resell these items to low income families. They can even partner with surplus food from restaurants.

So it may be getting close to more of these community supermarkets opening. When they do, families will benefit by having other options available to them.