Ankosé, a Norwich-based company, whose mission is to offer high-quality, affordable groceries to individuals and families so that they can live healthier lives, regardless of income, has announced a new partnership with the UK’s largest food wholesaler Booker. It will mean that more people on low incomes will have access to discounted good quality food and care products. Ankosé, which is a CIC (Community Interest Company) based at Norwich Research Park, acts as a broker between food manufacturers, producers, suppliers and wholesalers, to bring good quality food, healthcare and personal care products at discounted prices to the network of small social supermarkets and food banks serving the towns, cities and rural communities across the UK. For instance, it has negotiated a deal that will see a litre of milk that normally retails at £1.30 on sale in a social supermarket for 68p.
Ankosé is a collaboration between the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Norwich entrepreneurs John Farley, Colin Kiddell and Colin McLean, who are self-funding this initiative as they recognised there was a major problem that needed addressing. The name Ankosé is an Algonquin (indigenous Canadian) word for ‘everything is connected’. It is already supporting around 8,500 social supermarket outlets across the UK serving between 10-16m people at any one time.
One of the biggest issues for social supermarkets is logistics. Most food manufacturers and wholesalers deal in lorry loads and pallets but often a social supermarket does not have sufficient shelf or storage space to be able to take a whole pallet so cannot deal with that specific company. What Ankose has done is to work with suppliers who can deliver smaller amounts of their produce on a more frequent basis.
John said, “Up until now, social supermarkets – like The Feed in Norwich – have been reliant on stocking their shelves with gifted or short shelf-life products. Social supermarkets serve a very valuable role in helping to feed people that are struggling with a lower income and it’s exactly this section of the community that need healthy and nutritious food to prevent them becoming ill and putting a further strain on the NHS. We recognised that social supermarkets needed more help in this area, so we decided to do something about it.
“We have now negotiated special deals with a number of food manufacturers and care product suppliers to have their products on sale in social supermarkets at heavy discounts. I am really happy that we have found a partner in Booker that now only recognises this national problem but that also has the will to try and do something about it. The products that we have arranged to be delivered will be on the shelves of social supermarkets up and down the country under Booker’s three brands Value, Jack’s and Booker.”
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management organisation for Norwich Research Park, said, “The challenges of getting nutritious food onto the plates of those who need it most have increased significantly over the last few years as the cost-of-living crisis and higher energy prices continue to bite into people’s budgets. That’s why it is so important that communities such as the one we have here at Norwich Research Park have the right talent, facilities and collaborations to address these challenges.
“Ankosé is a really good example of academia and business working together to part-solve one of the biggest issues our country faces. UEA has established a fantastic reputation for innovative thinking and John has a great track record for getting ideas like these onto the market. This partnership could only have been founded at Norwich Research Park and we will strive to sustain this valuable ecosystem so that more solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges can be met head on.”
