Appendices Appendix 1 – Short Studies of Local Food Organisations in Glasgow & Scotland Glasgow Locavore CIC Locavore, established in 2011, is set up to offer an organic alternative system to the mainstream supermarket106. They have 3 shops in the city and are opening a further 3 shops across the central belt and Edinburgh. Plus a veg box scheme, floristry department and a market garden. In 2021 they launched their ‘Bigger Plan’ setting out targets for the next two years, in the hope of opening 10 new stores in Scotland and growing to meet demand. The mission in the bigger plan reads; “Locavore exists to build more sustainable food networks which are better for the environment, society, local communities and their economies. In short, we want a food system which feeds us all while also nourishing a healthy, fair and prosperous environment, society and economy.107” In 2016, Locavore moved their business model away from their namesake of ‘local first’ to a focus on Organic products that consumers would like to eat and expect to find in a supermarket108. As a member of the soil association, arguably they see organic food in the way that the back-to-the-landers did in the 1970s. The mission statement echoes the rhetoric used in the past when talking about the move from industrialised foods to organic, focusing on communities, economies and the environment. Similar to the descriptions offered by Kauffman of the people who started the Natural Organic Association in the ’60s, when asked about the demographics of Locavore, a staff member stated; “Our customer base is largely made up of two groups; young-environmentally aware greens and older, well-off middle-class people”109. An observation of their shops in Glasgow tells a similar story of the people who work for Locavore. Most staff could be described under the first catergory; young, white, middleclass and caring about the environment110. Certainly, the people who seem engaged the Locavore mission are not those that are into mass consumerism, heading home to have their ready meal infront of the Television. It might be early days for Locavore, only 10 years old last year, to know whether they can capture the mainstream market and subvert powerhouses like Waitrose and Tesco the Glasgow’s food system. Or whether they will become another counterculture movement like the ones describe previously in this dissertation.
Glasgow Community Food Network (GCFN) GCFN was established in 2017 and states that they ‘aim to give everyone in Glasgow improved, equal access to affordable healthy food’111. They do this by ‘bringing together practitioners and organisations in the private, public and third sectors along with other interested individuals to develop a flourishing food system in Glasgow’112. Locavore CIC. 2020. Bigger Plan, Glasgow Locavore Ibid 108 Ibid 109 Interview with Sally Morris, VegBox Manager at Locavore CIC by Gabby Morris on 22nd December 2021. 110 Observational Research by Gabby Morris on 18th November 2021 at Garnethill & Govan Stores 111 Network, Glasgow Community Food. 2021. “About Us,” Glasgow Community Food Network 112 Ibid 106 107
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