Change agents spanning all areas of the food system
We address long-held challenges and bring bespoke solutions with sensitively led innovation and smart automation technology that work in the real world to deliver strong results.
Case Study #1
School Food
The Problem
Our Solution
The Results
Testimonials
“This is how food deliveries should be made by all distributors! I can select seasonal products from a range of farms and receive them in one consolidated delivery and invoice. I am able to communicate to my pupils, parents and staff where their ingredients are coming from and how they were produced. The quality and sustainability of the produce is higher when it comes along short supply routes like this. This coupled with my team’s great cooking has been recognised with higher catering service uptake with 85% of children now enjoying school lunches. Business is good with the service now making a surplus.”
Stuart Rostance, Chef, Weston All Saints Primary School, Bath
“Everyone was saying, well, it’s going to cost us more. Oh no, it didn’t! It was more cost effective in many ways as we did not see increases in cost. In fact, we beat the market in many areas, in particular around meat, fruit and veg, at a time where we were seeing massive inflationary increases in lots of other areas.”
Richard Howroyd, Head of Strategic Procurement & Commissioning, Bath & North East Somerset Council
In 2015, Bath & North East Somerset Council planned to renew their catering contract alongside their Local Food Strategy launch. The strategy aimed to boost healthy, sustainable food consumption, support local producers, and enhance sustainable and organic school food, aligning with their Soil Association Food for Life Award goals. Contract renewal offered a chance to boldly pursue these objectives.
The Emfood team worked closely with procurement officers and catering management at the council for 18 months defining the innovative approach in such a way as it would be procurement regulation compliant, mitigate risks, and realise the core aims of the council’s local food strategy. Acting as a technology and management agent, we appointed our logistics arm (fresh-range - see below) for operations. Utilizing AgileChain and a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) from the council, we swiftly onboarded new providers via simplified Pre-Qualification Questionnaires. Approved bidders were listed on the e-commerce store, enabling rapid ordering by cooks. Regular off-term mini competitions ensured competitive pricing. Cooks accessed the store to order from chosen suppliers from in kitchen tablets. Deliveries were consolidated at a logistics hub, where products underwent quality checks and packing, with daily school deliveries.
● Supply chain carbon emissions reduced through distribution efficiencies.
● Transparency of supply chain and hence economic, environmental, and social sustainability of food procured was enhanced.
● Dozens of SME Primary Food Producers contracted directly with the public sector for the first time.
● Digital inclusion in school kitchens was improved.
● Food waste was reduced.
● Delivered the ingredients for over 2.3 million meals over a 2 year span.
● The service retained a Silver Food for Life Award.
● Successful training led to 99% online ordering adoption.
● Purchase value improved and overall real food spend fell by 6%.
● Recognised with Green Business Leader of the year award 2020 by client (Bath & NE Somerset Council)
Case Study #2
Online Grocery Retail
The Problem
Our Solution
The Results
Testimonials
“I buy my full weekly supermarket shop from sustainable food producers in and around where I live. It’s fresher and noticeably more inspiring to eat. I can select food that fit with my ethics for clean farming methods and high animal welfare. And, I can buy a large proportion of my shop at below supermarket prices. I can arrange a delivery even when I’m out. I’ve shopped for years and placed hundreds of orders and could not be happier with the quality, value and convenience of this model. The future is here. Hope is restored.”
Hazel Newton, early fresh-range customer, Norton St Phillip, Bath
“Receiving payment within 14 days really benefited local producers because (with conventional models) you can be waiting 30 or more days before you get paid. With small businesses, cash flow can be an issue because the suppliers that you’re buying your ingredients from want paying quickly and you’ve also got wages to pay.”
Nicky Stonebridge, General Manager, Lower Hurst Organic Farm
The city of Bristol sought more ethical and sustainable food retailing and sourcing approaches in their push to become a leading ‘Sustainable Food City’. Whilst there were strong routes to market for some organic vegetable growers through weekly veg box schemes, there were limited viable alternatives to supermarkets for a broader weekly food shop - particularly in more deprived areas of the city. An easily accessible connection between suppliers and customers was needed through a user-friendly online grocery store.
A new brand to communicate the benefit of freshness associated with seasonal produce travelling a short distance and time between farm and consumer. An entirely new warehouse and logistics facility. All brought together with AgileChain software to facilitate the establishment of short food supply chains to hundreds of farmers and producers across all food and drink categories, many of whom had no alternative route to market to grocery consumers. The community within every single postcode area of the West of England region were served with streamlined deliveries made feasible by the ground-breaking software and logistics infrastructure. The system's implementation of Just In Time (JIT) fulfillment and the utilization of concise supply chains synergistically optimized the freshness of the supplied produce. Instead of complicated offers we launched live product price comparisons highlighting the savings customers could make by selecting local produce over supermarket equivalents. For example on the online store, customers could purchase “Organic Leeks at 62% lower price than Tesco”. And, a ‘£1 delivery even when you’re out with reusable packaging’ approach was implemented to make online deliveries lower cost and more convenient than the supermarket.
● More than 400 producers & suppliers reaching thousands of new customers
● 15,000+ products in the range.
● 10,000+ customer users.
● Multi-Award Winning - BBC, The Guardian, The Western Daily Press, Crumbs, InnovateUK and more.
● Short payment terms trialled successfully for all producers and suppliers.
● 10,000s supplier fulfilments completed.
Case Study #3
University catering
The Problem
Our Solution
The Results
Testimonial
“Having a platform where we could order lots of different products with one invoice that gets sent direct to finance was a godsend. It also meant that we didn’t have to raise multiple POs to cover each element of an order which obviously then meant that there weren’t as many invoices coming into finance, therefore reducing the admin work to process. Ordering from lots of different suppliers usually means a minimum spend for each of them so having consolidated orders really helps to keep the budget down, which in any university setting is imperative.”
India Stamper, Catering Contracts and Relationship Manager, University of Bristol
The University of Bristol sought to replace their mobile catering service with a new approach that enabled staff to order food and drink and take deliveries to a range of university locations spread across the city. They also wanted to address new sustainability targets such as going carbon neutral by 2030 and eliminating the use of single use plastics for single portion foods.
We submitted a bid to meet and exceed their expectations and were subsequently awarded the contract. A bespoke Ecommerce store was curated and integrated via a punchout with an existing procurement software platform used within the university to optimize ordering efficiency and maintain existing data integrity and accounting processes. New producers who fitted their requirements were recruited, vetted, and supplying within the space of a few weeks. All single use plastics were eliminated. Promotions were made in every university department to make staff aware of the new service.
● 150+ suppliers engaged.
● 100% reduction in single use plastic use on single portion foods.
● 49 entirely new primary producers introduced via online stores to university staff.
● One delivery per day due to product consolidation, reducing carbon emission.
● Increased product provenance and transparency.
● Single consolidated invoice per delivery reduced accounts team admin time and made tracking budgets clearer / easy.
● Buyers noted that they could make more informed decisions because there was greater data transparency and supermarket pricing comparisons built into the store design.