After twelve months working alongside food hubs across the UK, we’re sharing everything we’ve learned alongside the launch of a new local procurement guide to provide a clear roadmap for food businesses navigating public sector procurement.
You can get access to the replay to the ‘Recipes for Success’ workshop that accompanied the local procurement toolkit by emailing info@betterfoodtraders.org.uk
Can independent, agroecological food businesses realistically supply hospitals, schools and local authorities at scale? That’s the question that drove our Regional Food Hubs programme throughout 2025, and after a year of intensive work, we have some tangible answers which we hope will positively impact anyone working in local procurement.
Together with Sustain, the Soil Association and Growing Communities, we ran a structured support programme for Regional Food Hubs across the UK: offering targeted training, hands-on guidance, and the kind of peer learning that only comes from bringing a cohort of ambitious enterprises together.
We had twelve carefully selected hubs join the programme from the offset. Three more established wholesalers came on board for later training sessions. What emerged was a rich and sometimes surprising picture of what it really takes to grow a sustainable food hub, and where the biggest pain points are. You can find the learning summary of the project HERE.
Launching: Our New Procurement Toolkit
Alongside the programme learnings, we’re launching something we’re very excited about: ‘Procurement Toolkit – a simple guide to supplying the public sector’. It’s designed specifically for smaller wholesalers and producers who want to explore selling into public institutions for the first time. Click the button below to get your copy.
Public sector contracts can feel scary. New terminology, the compliance requirements and the tender processes can leave you feeling overwhelmed.
Our toolkit is designed to demystify all of that, giving you the foundational knowledge and practical steps to start building those relationships with confidence.
Whether you’re a food hub just beginning to think about institutional supply, or a producer who’s been curious but unsure where to start, this resource is for you.
“The world of public sector procurement can still seem quite daunting and opaque, even for enterprises already trading at scale. Yet supplying into public institutions represents a significant opportunity to bolster the sustainable food sector and make meaningful change to the public plate. That’s why this new toolkit is so important, and why applying the lessons from the regional food hubs programme and supporting those setting out to replicate these models will be critical to scaling local, agroecological supply."
A Sold Out Workshop:
On 25th March 2026, BFT is hosting a webinar to share the full learnings from the programme.
The people attending come from a range of enterprises such as food businesses looking at starting or growing their wholesale and procurement, Sustainable Food Places, NGOs working on regional food systems and those in local and national government looking at growing regional food infrastructure
We’ll be honest about what worked and what didn’t, and we’ll situate individual enterprise challenges within the bigger picture. We’ll be talking about the policy landscape, the funding gaps, and the structural conditions that can enable or stifle this kind of work.
On the agenda:
What works and what doesn’t at enterprise level for Regional Food Hubs
The factors that most reliably determine success or create challenge
How Local Authorities can create enabling environments for RFHs
National policy levers that could unlock real change
The investment picture: what’s needed to build and sustain hubs across the UK
This event is sold out but the replay is available to anyone who requests it.
Just email: info@betterfoodtraders.org and a member of the team can forward it to you.