Better Food Traders has set out a bold vision for how alternative food retail can build a better food system and support the Government’s Food Strategy.
Julia Kirby-Smith, BFT’s Executive Director says, “We know our current corporate-dominated food system isn’t working – for public health, our environment, or for community wellbeing. So why are we looking to the same handful of corporations to fix it?
If the current Labour government are looking to enact the promised Food Strategy, create the ‘Good Food Cycle’, and ultimately deliver the mission of the ‘Healthiest Generation of children ever’ – should they be looking beyond the corporate regime and focusing on the successful examples of local food projects?”
Our current system is broken
The pervasive dominance of the supermarket is having a detrimental effect on our diets, our high streets and the environment in ways that urgently need to be addressed.
Ten supermarkets control 96% of grocery sales in Britain.
This means that for the majority of people, the supermarket is shaping our choices, and the news is not good.
The concentrated and aggressive competition model creates an inflexibility that is increasing the UK’s food insecurity.
These companies put profits over the health of people and planet. Farmers are squeezed while CEO’s take home millions.
The supermarkets are carefully shaping our food environment and it’s driving unhealthy, unsustainable diets while entrenching health insecurities. Fewer than 1% of Britons eat according to government health guidelines and the cost of living crisis means people are having to put health requirements below basic needs.
Voluntary action by big retailers has failed and it is clear that government intervention is necessary to make the change.
Supermarkets continue to aggressively promote meat and dairy while greenwashing their environmental records despite climate pledges. While ‘leanwashing’, which involves misleading people around the action they are taking to improve health outcomes.
Our local communities are also being eroded by supermarket dominance.
As supermarket retailers have opened, often on town edges, independent food shops have closed. The “nation of shopkeepers” is nearly extinct, and with it, the social fabric of our high streets.
The new Pride in Place strategy cites from Power to Change links declining high streets to growing political disaffection in communities across the Midlands and North.
The full extend of the problem in the current system is outlined in the first part of the report here: Profit over Purpose: Why supermarkets will make the Food Strategy fail
The report and panel discussion at the Labour Party Conference were picked up by a number of media outlets, including The Grocer, Natural Newsdesk, Vegconomist, and HortiDaily. Their coverage highlighted the growing recognition that supermarket dominance is blocking the success of the UK’s Food Strategy, and the urgent need for a thriving alternative food retail sector.
The solutions to the problems already exist.
Thousands of independent food retailers are already proving there’s a better way. From mobile greengrocers to farmers’ markets, veg box schemes to community-owned shops, these businesses are delivering what supermarkets can’t.
A thriving alternative food network goes well beyond the checkout.
The new report shows that alternatives are able to solve many of the issues being created by supermarkets.
Across the UK, independent and community-led food businesses are proving that a fairer food system is possible. These alternatives deliver healthier diets, pay farmers fairly, strengthen local economies and build real resilience.
These businesses support three times the employment of supermarkets per pound of turnover. They keep money circulating locally and create social hubs where communities gather. Where trust is eroded through the greenwashing and ‘farm-washing’ of supermarketing, these local businesses are rebuilding the trust between farmers and consumers.
Read the full report here: Purpose over Profit: How alternative food retail can make the Food Strategy a success
For a resilient future food system, we need to embrace a more diverse “patchwork” of food provision in the UK. Investing in and supporting alternatives will rebalance power, allowing citizens, farmers and producers to be brought into the centre of the food system.
What should the UK Government do to fix our failing food system?
With the Labour Party Conference over, the UK Government is heading back to Whitehall. What should its priority be as it aims to deliver its Food Strategy?
In our policy paper we set out the answers – and Better Food Trader enterprises have an important role to play.
Imagine the changes that would come if the government backed reforms to give people more power to transform their high streets and communities.
From protecting the NHS through improved diets, reducing health inequalities, and transforming food culture for the next generation to developing a sustainable food supply with reduced waste and improving economic and food resilience, change is possible.
The political moment is right, and the public mandate is strong with new data showing 54% of people believe supermarkets should operate as cooperatives.
The report outlines a comprehensive policy agenda for government, it includes:
- Regulate supermarkets for people, planet and fairness: Voluntary action has failed. We need mandatory sustainability standards, transparency on climate commitments, and a Food Chain Law (like Spain’s) that prevents selling below cost and ensures fair payment to farmers. Mandate supermarkets to shift 50% of protein sales to plant-based by 2030.
- Support independent retailers: It’s time to level the playing field. Business rate relief for sustainable food start-ups, incubator funds for community grocery businesses, and grants distributed through local authorities.
- Invest in infrastructure: Regional produce hubs would connect farmers to communities while building food security. A national horticulture strategy would grow domestic supply of sustainable produce.
- Use planning powers strategically: Reform regulations to prioritise space for healthy, sustainable food outlets. Convert vacant high street shops into markets and community grocers. Invest in mills, bakeries and other small processors to shorten supply chains.
- Pilot food vouchers: Fresh produce prescriptions through health services, usable at local SMEs, would improve diets while strengthening independent retailers.
- Open public procurement: Take the power back from catering giants. Mandate 50% sustainable food in public settings and simplify contracts so small businesses can compete.
Read the full recommendations in the report here: Purpose over Profit: How alternative food retail can make the Food Strategy a success
Together, these reforms would shift power from profit-hungry corporations to purpose-driven communities. Not only would these interventions fit with the government’s Food Strategy plans, but works ideally with its vision within the new Pride in Place strategy.
What can you do?
To make these policy changes a reality, you can help make a difference as a trader or as a member of the public…
- Put on the pressure by sharing the full report with your local councillors and MP
- If you’re a sustainable food trader and not already a member, join us
- If you’re a shopper, seek out your local Better Food Trader via our map