Bristol food businesses supporting food justice

Partner with Bristol Local Food Fund to provide support for local communities experiencing food insecurity. Together we can make Bristol a city of food justice.

Food insecurity in Bristol

Food insecurity is a severe and worsening issue in Bristol, impacting 1 in 12 households in our city - thousands of people.

By partnering with Bristol Local Food Fund, your cafe, restaurant, retail or wholesale business can raise vital funds and connect your business and customers to food justice, ensuring everyone has access to nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food.

The funds that you help to raise will be distributed to community food projects across the city, with all funding decisions made by a Citizens Panel made up of local people with lived experience of food insecurity.

1 in 12

In 2023/ 2024, 1 in 12 households in Bristol experienced moderate to severe food insecurity.

How to partner with us

In 2024, we aim to raise £150,000 to support community food projects that are helping people and communities that are most affected.

Here are some of the ways you can help:

Donate per cover

Add a £1 discretionary donation to every bill, with the option to add more.

Donate per plate

Price in a donation to a specific dish or drink, helping to raise vital funds with every sale. E.g. add 50p to the price of a bowl of fries or your best-selling burger.

Make a one-off donation

Your business can make a one-off donation, to BLFF. Head to our donation page or get in touch.

How it works

  • We will send you all the marketing bits you need to show you’re partnering to tackle food insecurity, including a window sticker and other printed display materials to go on tables or be handed out with the bill. These will help you explain what Bristol Local Food Fund is and the support it gives to community food projects in Bristol, as well as providing links to find out more.

  • If you choose the option of ‘donate per cover,’ let your customers know that that a discretionary donation to Bristol Local Food Fund (e.g. £1) will be added to their bill but making clear that customers can remove this if they don’t wish to donate.

    Simply add an automated £1 (or more) donation to every cover, or set up reminders for your staff to add it to the bill. At the end of each month the total amount raised through donations can be sent to our partner Feeding Bristol by cheque or bank transfer.

    We can help you find the best way to set this up for your business, and will be available throughout should any questions or problems arise.

  • If you choose to ‘donate per plate’, you can choose to tell your customers about the offer in different ways, such as a note on the menu, a sign at the till, or via your social media. As the donation is included in the price of the item already, the customer does not need to make a decision about whether to donate, but they will be aware that by choosing that item they are helping to support Bristol Local Food Fund.

    If you use an electronic till system, you will be able to keep track of the quantity sold of the chosen item .The quantity sold will allow you to calculate how much has been raised in donations. At the end of each month the total amount raised through donations can be donated to Bristol Local Food Fund by cheque or bank transfer.

    We can help you find the best way to set this up for your business, and will be available throughout should any questions or problems arise.

  • Your business can make a one-off donation to Bristol Local Food Fund. To do this just head to our donation page or get in touch.

  • We will provide you with all the advertising material you need (including table cards and a window sticker), and with an electronic till system the administrative work required should be minimal. Both ‘donate per cover’ and ‘donate per plate’ options are intended to be easy and straightforward for staff to use, and we hope that staff will feel proud of the funds they are helping to raise.

  • Feeding Bristol are our partners who handle the financial side of Bristol Local Food Fund. Alongside championing food justice and tackling food insecurity in Bristol, they are also responsible for holding the contributions to BLFF. Once we’re ready to launch a round of funding, Feeding Bristol releases the funds to our distribution partner, Quartet Community Foundation, we open an application process, and our Citizens Panel selects which community food projects will receive funding. As a an all-volunteer organisation, a very large portion of the funds raised goes straight to the community food projects, we use only a small portion of funds for important costs such as marketing or administration fees.

Why your support matters:

Bristol is home to a thriving food and hospitality scene, but thousands of people do not have access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food. Your business can be part of the solution, helping to provide a vital boost to community food projects across our city. Every pound you raise will make a real impact, helping to move Bristol one step closer to food justice for all.

Our impact so far

    36    

18 projects funded in 2022, and 19 funded in 2024, including 5 repeat grantees.

11,673

People across Bristol were engaged in projects supported through BLFF funding.

  459  

Volunteers involved in
the BLFF funded projects.

  • “This project has allowed us to create a more sustainable garden, guaranteeing improved quantities of crops, which will go straight into the community via the food club at Avonmouth Community Centre.”

    Incredible Edible Bristol, Avonmouth - £4,350 awarded

  • "[The grant] has helped to further establish our organisation within Bristol’s food justice network, better placing us to continue to expand the work we do tackling food insecurity, poverty, and poor health in the local area."

    Lush Greens CIC, Hengrove - £5,000 awarded

  • “The grant has been brilliant and allowed us to maintain our service of free food provision. It has encouraged volunteer participation and has brought more families to the playground.”

    APE Project CIC, St Pauls - £5,000 awarded

Become a partner today

Help us reach our goal of £150,000 and be a part of the solution to food insecurity in Bristol. 

Complete this form to become a fundraising partner, or find out more. We’ll send you our partner toolkit to help you get started.