Who are we?

We are a network of over 30 social supermarkets and food banks which are an established provider of support to local residents in Coventry who find themselves in food poverty.

Our Food Hubs (Social Supermarkets) offer discounted food parcels, which typically equate to £25 worth of food for a cost of a £5 membership per week.

Coventry Food Bank are also part of our network which provide emergency food parcels to those in crisis through the operation of a referral system.

Coventry Food Networks exists to provide support, training and advice to the organisations the operate these food hubs and food banks. We seek to improve the procurement of food and the wrap-around support which aims to help people become self sufficient.

Coventry Food Network (CFN) also recognises the wider challenges associated with food insecurity and poverty. This includes poor nutrition, education, and life-skills that has caused a rise in obesity, diabetes, and other medical conditions.

CFN aims to provide additional support alongside the social supermarkets to tackle these underlying issues. We are now developing and expanding the range and extent of advice services at our social supermarkets. This includes, financial advice, employment support, addressing health equalities, and the digital divide with BITC and Coventry City Council. This is a model that has worked well in other settings and provides a key strategy to address the root causes of food insecurity within the city.

The network is now being tested by the cost-of-living crisis, the result of which means that the network sustainability is vulnerable to both a rise in cost of procuring food and energy prices and an increase in demand.

With initial funding support from Coventry City Council, we created a timeline of activities that will help tackle the sustainability of the network to ensure that these charitable activities remain viable.