McCain Foods has partnered with the social supermarket chain Community Shop to fund a new food redistribution store in Yorkshire.
The shop, which is located in Eastfield Scarborough, where McCain has its UK headquarters, opened its doors on Friday 4 August. The site is expected to serve around 750 lower-income people from the local area, who will gain access to heavily discounted surplus food and household products.
The site also includes a Community Kitchen, which will provide cheap hot meals. Any revenue raised will be reinvested back into the local community via the store’s Community Hub, which will offer development programmes, skills workshops and mentoring opportunities.
“We’re delighted to celebrate the opening of the new Community Shop in Eastfield – a place where McCain GB has called home for over 50 years,” said Jillian Moffatt, regional president GB&I at McCain.
“We’re proud to be partnering with Community Shop to bring this invaluable service to our local community and look forward to supporting it for years to come.”
Robert Goodwill, the MP for Scarborough & Whitby, opened the store in a short ceremony. It’s the 12th member-only Community Shop supermarket in the Community Shop network.
“We are incredibly excited to open the doors of the brand new Eastfield Community Shop,” said Community Shop executive chairman Gary Stott. “We know from our work across the UK that this store will have a big impact on those in the community who need it most.”
The social enterprise works with food manufacturers, retailers and brands to sell donated or surplus stock that otherwise would have been wasted, at a discount to people living in lower-income communities.
Demand for its services has risen over the past year as the cost of living crisis hits family budgets hard. Figures released by the group in January showed that the number of baskets it distributed in the build-up to Christmas 2022 doubled compared with the previous year, with nearly 46,000 baskets being served between 1 and 13 December. Community Shop warned that demand would continue throughout the year.
“Community Shop goes far beyond just discounted food, with the life-changing development programmes equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge they need to focus on creating long-term positive change in their lives,” Stott said.
The enterprise also runs a network of 14 Company Shops across England and Scotland. The concept provides discounted and surplus food donated by manufacturers and retailers to key workers and those working within the wider fmcg network.
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