Social supermarkets in the UK found to provide a space to transition out of food poverty segregation

Over the last decade, urban poverty has dramatically increased in the UK, with an explosion in people needing to access emergency food parcels provided by food banks. But these food banks, while providing essential and extremely needed emergency food access to those in crisis, can be a segregating space for people using their services.

A new study has examined how food aid organizations enable segregation or transitioning when it comes to food access. The paper argues that social supermarkets (also known as community shops, pantries, larders, community supermarkets, citizen supermarkets, grub hubs or food clubs) offer a transitional space between food banks and the market spaces of mainstream food retailers.

The study was conducted by the University of Birmingham, the University of Chester, and the University of Salford. It has been published in Urban Studies.

Caroline Moraes, Professor of Marketing at Birmingham Business School and Co-Director of the Centre for Responsible Business, said, “Social supermarkets are an increasingly popular model for providing food access for people who would otherwise not have secure access to food. People who cannot access food in traditional supermarkets can do their shopping at a social supermarket, which sells products at a significantly discounted rate or for a peppercorn fee.

“Supporters of the model say that this allows people to get the support they need in a more dignified way, rather than needing to depend on foodbank referrals which have more stigma attached. As food poverty has increased, it is important to understand how food aid providers and systems might feed into social segregation or enable transition out of food insecurity.”

The researchers examined food aid providers in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands—two regions of the UK with significant levels of deprivation—through visits and interviews to understand how the different services targeting food insecurity might foster these transitional spaces.

The study argues that social supermarkets become transitional spaces for multiple reasons: firstly, because their model is dynamic, flexible and dependent on forms of negotiation (managing food surplus donations and warehouse space, for example). Secondly, they put more focus on dignity and choice for service users compared to food banks, and thirdly, social supermarkets are more likely to provide access to additional services to help people transition out of poverty.

Professor Morven G. McEachern of the University of Chester explained, “Social supermarkets provide more sustainable access to food. Rather than emergency food parcels, people can come every week to do their shopping for the amount of time they need. When we did our interviews, we found that social supermarkets provided access to job clubs, cooking clubs, and benefits and debt management advice, which can all help people transition out of needing emergency food.

“On the other hand, food banks, who are dealing with people in a state of immediate crisis, understandably focus on that crisis. Demand is also so high that they need to put all their efforts into giving people food, rather than providing transitional support.”

Additionally, the physical spaces that food banks inhabit can be a challenge because they face precarious conditions themselves. People accessing emergency food aid sometimes have to form long queues publicly outside the premises or are made visible through glass-fronted premises, adding to the stigma that people experience, whereas social supermarkets tend to be more community-oriented.

Professor Moraes concluded, “Social supermarkets provide people with more sustainable, varied and community-focused services and food access, which gives people social support and opportunities to transition out of poverty and back into some level of secure food access. This is not to say that food banks do not do incredibly important work. Both models do different things, with food banks focusing on immediate crises and social supermarkets focused on longer-term change.

“Nobody should be going hungry or needing these services in 21st-century Britain, but while this is the case, by giving people places to transition out of food poverty, we will hopefully see less of a need for food aid. Real change is only really possible with changes in government policy to tackle poverty.”