A charity in South Bristol has taken a significant step towards a more resilient future, by partnering with a major local organic retailer to bring their locally produced goods to households across Bristol.
Heart of BS13, a social enterprise that works to reduce health inequalities for residents of Hartcliffe and Withywood, will be selling produce from two of its enterprises in Better Food stores. The partnership is the first of its kind for the charity, which has previously sold only direct to customers, and an important move towards their ambition of finding sustainable business models to support their work in the community.
Better Food customers will be able to enjoy seasonal cut flowers, grown without chemicals and using sustainable growing techniques from The Kitchen Garden Enterprise – Heart of BS13’s market garden. With the support of volunteers, the Kitchen Garden team have developed an acre of growing space over the past two years, dedicated to growing vegetables, flowers and fresh herbs in a nature-friendly way. The team work with local residents to offer gardening workshops and therapeutic horticultural programmes aimed at improving mental and physical wellbeing, and to share knowledge and skills on growing.
Solveig Harmsworth, Programme Lead at The Kitchen Garden Enterprise, says: “We’re so excited to see our flowers in Better Food stores. It’s great to have found a retailer whose values align with our own; our no-dig, chemical-free approach to growing, and the seasonality of our flowers seems the perfect fit, and we’re really hopeful that Better Food customers will appreciate not just the gorgeous bouquets, but also the deeper impact that each purchase is making in the local community.”
The garden also supplies some of the produce that goes into making ready meals for The Real Meal Store, an innovative enterprise making home-style frozen meals and desserts, which in turn ‘pay forward’ a nutritious meal choice for a household of four affected by food insecurity. Better Food will be stocking a range of vegetarian and vegan meals, each made by The Real Meal Store’s small team of Bristol-trained chefs.
With one in eight BS13 households reporting food insecurity before 2020, The Real Meal Store has played a major role in the local emergency food response to the pandemic, distributing over 30,000 meals to more than 400 households in the area over successive lockdowns. Their approach, however, aims to tackle not just the immediate effects of food insecurity, but also the root causes and knock-on effects; every household supported with food is also offered access to professional support to address associated issues.
Jodie Smith, Food Security Programme Lead at The Real Meal Store, says: “Seeing our meals stocked at Better Food is a really big step for us in achieving our vision of finding a sustainable way of doing business that gives value back to the community here in BS13. As a social enterprise, all our profits support our work in reducing local health inequalities, and it feels great to be generating that income from high quality, delicious meals cooked by our talented chefs and making use of the produce grown right here on site.”
Better Food founder, Phil Haughton, who recently joined Heart of BS13’s board, says: “These two enterprises are showing how good produce and good food can be part of a bigger vision to offer opportunities in local communities, improve emotional and physical wellbeing, and look after the local environment. I’m so proud to see these products on our shelves, and I’m excited that we can offer our customers high quality products that add value where it’s needed most in Bristol.”
Better Food, established over 25 years ago, is Bristol’s biggest retailer of local and organic food. They have recently launched Better Giving, an initiative that will see each of their stores choose a local good cause with the help of their customers, with every store team going on to build their own plan to support the chosen cause. Both Kitchen Garden Enterprise flowers and The Real Meal Store ready meals are available from 4th June in all Better Food stores, located in St Werburghs, Clifton and Wapping Wharf.
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