Kitchen pod!6 years ago
Impact data and claims within this report are provided by the project creator and have not been independently verified by Spacehive.
By East London Food Access (ELFA) Ltd
Our pop-up stall displays healthy fruit & vegetables at the heart of communities & estates. We aim to improve health & well-being by giving access to affordable fresh produce to those needing it most.
We will design this innovative pod to take it into community spaces where it becomes an enticing micro-market complete with cooking demonstration & information areas. When we take the pod to the heart of estates & playgrounds local residents can access fresh produce, learn new cooking skills and pick up health related information. The pod slides out of the back of a dedicated project van before pivoting to rest on four rubber wheels. It can then be taken to any space and folded out to present three produce display units, a cooking bay with small sink & food preparation area, a cashing out bay with till and scales, and an information display. We will template the design and make it available so other areas of London can benefit.
What we'll deliver:
Why it's a great idea:
For over ten years, ELFA has sold fresh produce in estates and school playgrounds. We use folding tables and much effort and it looks good. But because it takes too much time to set up, and has little potential for information display, and has no cooking or food demonstrations, it doesn’t work as well as we would like. Our new mobile pod solves these problems and extends our reach. It takes fresh produce to local people and presents it as exciting, tangible and available. And it is all very healthy. Our pod will be of particular benefit to people for whom healthy eating is beyond their grasp – those on limited incomes, elderly people, those with mobility or health issues and those with young children – though all are welcome. It is vital we expand our work as London faces pandemic health issues including obesity and diabetes. All agree that increasing consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables is paramount in helping restoring health and well-being.
Steps to get it done:
To us it is important to engage with our stakeholders in the design & roll-out of the project. These include, from the bottom-up, our customers, our staff and volunteers including our voluntary Board members, our suppliers and the farms that supply them, our location partners – the housing providers and schools, our current funders, our Public Health teams and Local Authorities. From these we will invite and assemble a Design Team to provide overview, strategic and operational guidance, and support. ELFA has a strong track record in achieving its goals – we have run stalls, cooking lessons and enterprise start-up advice. We have received funding and commissions from the City Parochial Charity to the Innovation Exchange, from Local Authority to the European Social Fund. All funding has been spent appropriately and all goals achieved. We are excited with the result of bringing all of our experience to bear on such a pressing operational issue and delighted to share with all of London.
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Whoop, 40 people have pledged since fundraising began!
How will the money be spent?Total £42,002
Costs Breakdown
This shows how money raised for the project will be spent. These costs have been confirmed by the project's Delivery Manager and verified.
Total £42,002
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VolunteerEast London Food Access (ELFA) is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee set up in 2002 with the aim of tackling “Food Poverty” across Hackney and East London. We are now one of the most successful organisations of its type.
We deliver all the produce and provide all the back-up and support to make a stall a success. Some of our stalls have been running for over 10 years. Our work includes the development of new and existing food access projects including Collaborative Buying Groups and Cookery Projects to further increase consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy diet.
In our experience all our successful interventions are located in areas where people experience problems in accessing good quality produce.
However our operational model based on trestle table has problems of transport and costs, and cannot demonstrate food preparation skills or present health-related information.
Drawing on all our experience and designed to make a real impact, our ‘out of the can’ Freshwell Mobile ensures our service can be taken to a host of estates and community spaces throughout London.
The price of the produce sold at the stall includes a modest mark-up which covers the immediate operational costs e.g. consumables, fuel costs, volunteer expenses. We offer Social Enterprise Quality training to all our volunteers and work with local shops to help develop a thriving local economy. Some of our stalls accept Time Bank, Rose vouchers and community currencies and all our stalls accept Healthy Start vouchers.
Project Owner: East London Food Access (ELFA) Ltd The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.
