When Mustard Tree – a charity that works to prevent homelessness – opened its Food Club as part of a refurb in 2018, keeping it stocked cost £24,000 per year. Now, it costs £25,000 per month, down from £38,000 at the height of Covid.
The Food Club is one of a growing number of community grocers across the UK and is open to anyone who receives benefits or is on a low income. Members pay £3 per visit which gets them 10 items, including six cupboard essentials such as bread, cereal and long-life milk, plus four fridge items like ready meals, meat, fish and dairy.
For people in a critical situation, these items are free.
“If you’ve got no recourse to public funds then you don’t pay,” says Jack Barton,…
