London Universities – do you want short, healthy, resilient food supply chains?? We sat down with the Better Food Shed and LUPC to explore
The Better Food Shed supplies 20 tonnes of organic, seasonal fruit and veg a week to 20 businesses and council services, who in turn, feed over 10,000 people a week. With almost 40 universities in London, many of which are not contracting authorities (and therefore follow but are exempt from PA23), is there an obvious route to an engaged consumer base and ready public buyer?
Representatives from The Better Food Shed, City St Georges, University College London, Coventry University and the London University Purchasing Consortium sat down to explore the potential procurement opportunities.
Key takeaways from the discussion and some hopefully helpful insights for anyone in this space below!
• Not all universities are ‘contracting authorities’ (depending on their funding models) which means they are exempt from PA23, but it is in their interest to meet requirements. The opportunity is about meeting their sustainability objectives through local food and short supply chains and delivering social value
• As internal employees of universities, procurement colleagues are there to help us as well, so bringing them on board and on side is important
• Given huge financial pressures on universities, food and drink sales are often used as a route of revenue, which acts as an additional barrier for local, in house provisioning. Profit sharing contracts are the new normal for universities. So finding ways around this is needed.
• Finding levers for change in a tense and rigid system – engaging with student bodies, student unions and Students Organising for Sustainability. We made a commitment to explore this and find some student change makers!
• Food inflation and kickbacks in the system need to be discussed with contract awarders.
Procurement for Good will continue to consult on what ‘local’ means in the context of London. Colleagues at universities will source inflation figures and pricing data. If you’re an engaged student at a London university, make yourself known!
