As requested by the Food Support Network, we are on phase two of a bulk buying pilot project. Local food projects are invited to express their interest and get involved.
The aims of the project are to:
- secure competitive prices for local food projects via bulk buying.
- reduce the Food Support Network’s annual collective spending of £700,000 a year.
- work collectively to reduce the admin time which individual food projects spend on procurement.
This pilot project is aimed at any Food Support Network members who already spend money on non-perishable/ambient food.
How will it work?
For the initial pilot, we are ordering two pallets of ambient food from the Food and Community Trust (FCT), an organisation founded by Sheffield’s S6 Food Bank designed to support projects delivering emergency food.
- Food projects can visit our ordering platform, where they can purchase from a small range of popular items
- To make sure we sell all our items we’ve divided the pallets we’ve bought of each item into “blocks”. You can buy these items in blocks, you are welcome to buy multiple blocks. We will tell you how many units, or items, is in each block.
- In this phase we have increased the variety of items on offer, as requested by you.
How does collection work?
- Make the order on our online ordering system
- We will send you a list of collection slots within a timeframe of one month.
- Collection is from Shrub,
Unit 5
Crowhurst Road
Crowhurst Corner
Brighton
BN1 8AP - Everyone is responsible for taking what they’ve paid for, and not more.
Why we decided to do it this way
- We have calculated prices against best local prices for the same items, and there is a clear saving for projects. Mapped across a year, we’ve projected that a large project could save £2,288 a year, and a medium project £1,144 a year.
- Products have been divided into ‘blocks’ to ensure we sell out across each product line. The blocks do not necessarily reflect the packaging sizes, but each block contains details of the units within it.
- We have added a small admin fee of £50 to cover time in managing the system so that the project is sustainable.
- A huge thank you to Shrub for donating space to this project.
- We are still looking for a bulk buying hub so we can extend the range of items, and store fresh produce
