Introducing the Good Food Loop! Formerly known as the South West Good Food Network, the Good Food Loop is a wholesale distribution network that Tamar Grow Local are helping to develop.
What is the Good Food Loop?
The Good Food Loop is a not-for-profit distribution network that connects agroecological producers with local food hubs and businesses, such as shops, restaurants and cafés, helping them reach a wider regional market for their produce.
How does it work?
Producers list their produce on the Open Food Network, which then allows them to easily sell through multiple food hubs, or direct to wholesale customers through the Loop's online wholesale shopfront. Producers receive their orders each week by email, so can prepare everything to order meaning there's no waste. The Good Food Loop then takes care of the distribution, collecting orders from producers and delivering them to customers in one efficient Loop!
We're excited to share a short film about the project here, which was funded by the COACH Project and produced by Fotonow CIC.
How does the Good Food Loop help food hubs? Being part of the Good Food Loop helps Tamar Valley Food Hubs access a wider range of produce from across Devon and Cornwall, giving customers more choice and helping us support more producers. Some produce is seasonal, like the organic geese from Lilac Cottage Larder, and some is specialist and not available more locally, such as gourmet mushrooms from Forest Fungi or organic cream from Challons Combe Organics. Because it comes from slightly further afield, produce delivered by the Good Food Loop includes a fee for the delivery costs, which reflects the extra distance it's travelled to reach us. You can see a breakdown of fees by clicking on the pie chart icon beside any product in our shopfront. How can I buy through the Good Food Loop? Many of the producers you can buy from at Tamar Valley Food Hubs supply their produce to us through the Good Food Loop. These include the Apricot Centre in Dartington, Challons Combe Organics in Aveton Gifford, Crock and Cole in Dartington, Forest Fungi in Dawlish, ReRooted in Totnes and The Sidwell Street Bakehouse in Exeter.
Good for producers
The Good Food Loop aims to support agroecological producers by helping them access a wider market for their produce, without having to spend a lot of extra time on admin, marketing and making deliveries. Producers set the prices for their produce, and the Good Food Loop charges a 10% fee for distributing it. Often, this works out as less than the producer would have to spend delivering it themselves.
Good for customers
By networking producers together, the Good Food Loop helps customers easily access a wide variety of agroecological produce through one simple platform, and have it delivered to their door. Customers are able to support smaller scale producers and know they're receiving a fair price for their produce.
Good for the environment The Good Food Loop works together with producers who are growing food using agroecological methods, and who are sourcing sustainable ingredients for their produce. They work in a collaborative way to make use of existing resources, keep the supply chain short, and to reduce the number of vans on the road by consolidating deliveries into fewer, efficient routes. All produce is harvested or made to order, so there's no waste, and reusable packaging is returned to producers each week.
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