Launched against the backdrop of Brexit, the emergence of Covid-19 accelerated the need for Food and Drink North East (FADNE) to innovate and find tangible solutions that reached beyond lip service and made a real-time contribution to the industry. Keen to take a proactive role to gather relevant intelligence, FADNE embarked on a short cycle of business consultation in response to the first national lockdown, circulating a survey to around 500 businesses across the food, drink and hospitality supply chain and to the smallest and biggest businesses in the region.
Following the results of the Covid-19 consulation, it was clear that the sector needed an instant response to help retain a route to market. Building on previous work from Newcastle University's involvement in the Strength2Food project, FADNE entered into a partnership with NICRE to model local supply chains and test practical interventions for a more competitive, green and 'smart' food economy. Through this partnership, Local Heroes, an online business-to-consumer (B2C) platform delivering regional food and drink to the doorstep, was born.
Local Heroes ran for a full calendar year as a support tool and not a competitor to other box scheme initiatives.
In 12 months, Local Heroes supported small, artisan producers to the tune of more than £50,000 worth of sales issuing over 2,000 purchase orders involving 500+ zero emission deliveries with its partners ZMove. Further, 10% of every purchase led to more than £5,000 worth of fresh milk, eggs and butter donated to the West End Foodbank.
Local Heroes, through FADNE's in-house creative agency Grub, helped elevate the profile of the sector with a reel of poignant storytelling, short films and documentaries.
The decision to close the platform came in February 2021 when other privately-led box schemes were emerging alongside a shifting landscape where businesses were innovating in a way never seen before in order to generate sales.
NICRE and FADNE are currently exploring the innovation potential of zero-emission delivery services. Ongoing consumer research is taking place to understand market needs in service development, which will inform the launch of a trial project to bring a zero-emission delivery service to Hexham, Northumberland.
Additionally, preliminary evidence from data from the original B2C Local Heroes initiative has led to a mapping exercise analysing the routes travelled by products from farm to fork, showing how smart coordination (at producer and consumer level) can help achieve optimal solutions.
Local Heroes was imperfect. As a ‘doing’ organisation, FADNE needed to respond to a crisis. It was a living design sprint from start to finish and exposed many of the weaknesses in the local supply chain that FADNE exist to try and resolve. In a bid to build something ambitious and innovative, it highlighted the challenges in building a progressive means to make local food and drink sustainable, affordable and inclusive.
Could FADNE truly make a zero emissions claim? Across the food and drink supply chain, the problem begins at the farm gate. Getting produce neatly packaged to the customers’ doorsteps was easy. Aggregating and consolidating over 150 producers in disparate locations and preventing several partially full cars and vans from delivering individually is a challenge.
Was Local Heroes inclusive? From rising product costs due to supply chain inefficiencies to the logistic constraints of our delivery model, Local Heroes inadvertently catered to a certain demographic who could afford the associated costs. With a five-mile radius only achievable by its logistics partner ZMove, customers were coming from the more affluent suburbs of Newcastle such as Gosforth and Jesmond.
I am an Innovation Associate at NICRE, I lead on Rural Transport projects, engaging and supporting local authorities, businesses, communities and organisations in the movement of people and goods, in their everyday journeys. This role grew from the longstanding NICRE partnership with Food and Drink Northeast, and their shared interest in local food procurement and short supply chains.
Recent projects include Community Cargo Bikes, a Sustainable Transport Climathon, and involvement in the Nature for People and Place in the River Wansbeck Catchment
I have had a varied career within land use and facilities management organisations, and over the last seven years focused on helping the public and businesses to embrace the E-bike revolution. This latter focus fits in with my interests, pedaling around on 2 wheels, nature, food and outdoor activities.
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