Above image: Eric Samuel MBE, CEO of Community Food Enterprise

The latest edition of our Community Spotlight series focuses on ELBA community partner, Community Food Enterprise (CFE). This month we spoke with Eric Samuel MBE, CEO of Community Food Enterprise, to bring you this information about what CFE does, why it exists and the challenges it faces.

What does Community Food Enterprise do?
CFE’s mission is to work in partnership with the diverse communities of east London, and nationally with those of similar needs, to safeguard and sustain access to the right food at an affordable price as a fundamental condition for individual and community health and well-being. CFE believes that food and drink should be safe, nutritious, affordable, accessible and culturally acceptable.

In partnership with the local community, statutory/voluntary organisations and local businesses, we have developed a socialised food supply chain delivering healthy nutritious food to local organisations and residents at no cost (donations) or at affordable prices. This secure supply of food has led to the development of innovative community based services and interventions such as:

• Healthy Schools (Breakfast Clubs/Fruit Tuck Shops) – at CFE, we support Key Stage 2 pupils (7-11 years old) by providing schools with a weekly delivery of fresh fruit for their Tuck Shops. We also supply primary and secondary schools with grocery provision for their breakfast clubs.
• Surplus Food (SF) – sourcing food that is surplus to requirement and redistributing this to local charities and community groups e.g. Soup Kitchens, Hostels, Night Shelters and Refugee centres throughout east London
• Mobile Green Grocer (MGG) which operates in areas that are classified as food ‘deserts’ (areas with limited access to shops that sell fruit & veg) as well as the creation of employment and volunteering opportunities in one of the most deprived areas of London
• Workplace Health – to improve the health and wellbeing of employees, CFE offers a daily delivery of fresh fruits directly to employers’ workplace.

What challenges are there in east London with regards to the issues that your service users face?
Food poverty is prevalent throughout the seven boroughs that form east London and over the years we have developed a range of innovative, community based services and interventions to address Food Poverty.

CFE’s mission is to work in partnership with front-line organisations to alleviate Food Poverty and give members of some of the poorest communities in the country an opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Front-line organisations simply do not have the infrastructure or the capacity to collect any surplus food on offer therefore they are reliant on organisations such as CFE.

Do you have an inspirational story/moment about your work you would like to share?

CFE’s hard work and dedication is recognised by some of the front line organisations we serve, below are some testimony from them, their feedback and testimonies helps inspire CFE’s staff.

“Over the past three years, Eric’s involvement has been more personal, and he has put all CFE’s resources at our disposal. From contacts within London, to warehousing, to food collection and transportation, our growth in the past three years owes a lot to the generosity of Eric Samuel and CFE.” – Tee Fabikun, General Manager, Carpenters Café, Stratford

‘I would just like to say thank you for all the donations you have given to us in the past year. This has truly made a big difference to our project and the wellbeing of our customers’ – Tammy Whall, Core Support Worker, Look Ahead, Tower Hamlets

“All the donations that we receive are gratefully appreciated and used by the local community who use the centre for events or food bank or for everyday use. So everything we receive is used. So thank you for the support you give us with the donations” – Tracy Lambert, Community Cafe Coordinator, RDLAC, Newham

“Community Food Enterprise has been our main fruit and veg supplier at St Hilda’s Food Co-op for several years now. They make ordering a straightforward process and are super reliable; come rain or shine they always, without fail, deliver our full order on time.  Community Food Enterprise have also been very flexible which is important for us as a small Food Co-op,  it means that we have been able to try out smaller quantities of some products and order exactly what we need which helps us keep our waste to a minimum.  We really couldn’t wish for a better supplier, the produce is top quality and their customer service is excellent.”   – Jenny Jones, Food Co-op Co-ordinator, St. Hilda’s East Community Centre, Tower Hamlets

What are the current challenges that your organisation is facing?
Over the last 3 years, more and more organisations from our community have turned to us for surplus food and as a result we are finding it challenging to fulfil the demand as we do not have enough food to supply all the organisations we work with. This increase was due to (i) limited funds available for third sector organisations (ii) the unprecedented level of members of the community facing poverty (see ‘Need for this service’ section below). CFE intervened and met these requests and our CEO Eric Samuel used to arrive for work at 4am to pack and deliver surplus produce.

Since April 2017, the number of organisations we are distributing surplus food to in east London has increased to 54 and a total of 45 tonnes of food has been redistributed – the equivalent of 90,000 meals.

With additional funding and resources, CFE will be able to reach out to more charities and users in East London.