Social Enterprises: Transforming Local Food Systems from the Ground Up
Community-rooted social enterprises are transforming local food systems by combining trading with social impact and reaching underserved communities. Drawing on research from the SEFS project, CUSP Deputy Director Fergus Lyon explains why they should be recognised as essential food-system partners.
Blog by Fergus Lyon
The UK food system is under mounting pressure. Rising food insecurity, diet-related ill health, widening inequalities and environmental challenges have all been intensified by the cost-of-living crisis. Traditional policy responses, often top-down and narrowly focused on technical fixes or individual behaviour change, have struggled to reach the communities most affected.
But new evidence from the Social Enterprise Food Systems (SEFS) project (2022–2025) tells a more hopeful story: one where community-rooted social enterprises are already leading the way towards healthier, fairer and more sustainable food systems.
A Community-Led Resilient Alternative
Social enterprises occupy a unique position. They trade commercially, but their primary purpose is social impact. Most importantly, they are embedded in the communities they serve and can build on the everyday understandings of food of those around them.
This combination allows them to take a fundamentally different approach to food-related challenges. Instead of traditional approaches that are seen as preachy and patronising, social enterprises work with communities, co-designing initiatives that reflect local cultures, preferences and realities.
Across six case studies spanning England, Wales and Scotland, the SEFS project found that social enterprises are particularly effective at engaging underserved groups, including low-income households and minority ethnic communities. They do so in ways that avoid stigma and build trust, something many traditional interventions fail to achieve.
Using mixed income streams rather than relying solely on grants, social enterprises can blend social mission and entrepreneurial thinking allowing them to sustain services beyond short-term funding cycles. This is something that many community programmes struggle with. Demand for their services is increasing rapidly due to ongoing economic pressures. This creates a paradox: organisations that are highly effective are being stretched thin, with insufficient support to grow.
More Than Food: A Holistic Approach
The research found that successful social enterprise initiatives avoid treating food as an isolated issue. Instead, they connect it to wider aspects of wellbeing. Our research found that the most innovative alternatives being developed come when food is integrated with other services being delivered such as early years/nurseries, health and social care services, and community transport. This multifaceted approach reflects the reality that food insecurity is rarely just about food. It is tied to income, health, access, and social connection. By addressing these factors together, social enterprises can create solutions that have the potential to be more effective.
Innovation and collaboration
The research identified a number of success factors that can be supported by policy. These combine social innovations that aim to solve social problems and processes of co-design where community members can come together to have a strong voice is what is delivered and how. This can allow for cultural sensitivity, reflecting local food practices and identities.
There is also a need for collaboration involving social enterprises and the wider ‘ecosystem’ of support and partnering across public, private and voluntary sectors. Social enterprises can bring together different perspectives, approaches, disciplines and public service areas. Importantly, they are also building place-based partnerships, improving food access and affordability while contributing to environmental sustainability.
Sadly, funding remains fragmented and does not match the holistic approaches of social enterprises, particularly when it remains in the silos of government departmental funding. There can also be centralised decision-making, limiting local flexibility and procurement systems that favour large suppliers and overlook social value.
A Policy Opportunity
Despite their strengths, social enterprises remain underutilised in mainstream food policy and there is a need to raise awareness of what social enterprises can deliver. The research shows that they are already delivering practical, scalable solutions. The challenge is ensuring that policy frameworks enable them to expand their impact. Five key policy priorities emerge:
1. Recognise social enterprises as key food system actors, not peripheral providers.
2. Embed sustainable food provision across different areas of public provision and support, including by breaking down policy silos between health, education, social care and transport.
3. Support social innovation alongside technical and market-led innovation, particularly where food intersects with wellbeing and disadvantage.
4. Reform procurement and funding mechanisms to reward social and environmental value and encourage collaboration between key actors and community led partnerships.
5. Strengthen the financial sustainability and scaling capacity of social enterprises through appropriate business, advisory and investment support.
From Local Success to System Change
The SEFS project highlights a critical insight: transformation of the food system will not come solely from national policy or large-scale industry change. It will also come from locally rooted, community-driven innovation. Social enterprises have the potential to move from small-scale success stories to system-wide change. This work is a collaboration of from Community Transport Glasgow, Cultivate Powys, London Early Years Foundation, Selby Trust, London, Social adVentures, Salford and Windmill Hill City Farm, Bristol, working with Middlesex University, University of Surrey, Glasgow Caledonian University, Shared Assets and Social Enterprise UK. Researchers included Fergus Lyon, Kate Burningham, Patrick Elf, Kim Graham, Dean Hochlaf, Alise Kirtley, Anastasia Loukianov, Micheala Mazzei, Bianca Stumbitz, and Ian Vickers with further input from community researchers in each social enterprise. It is part of UKRI’s Transforming UK Food Systems Programme and builds on the work of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP).
