Coca-Cola invests in surplus sharing and community change
Thanks to a partnership with Coca-Cola, the award-winning and transformative social supermarket, Community Shop, will open its latest store in Hoyland, Barnsley, on 10th July 2024.
The Community Shop is an arm of Company Shop Group, a UK redistributor of surplus products.
Company Shop Group takes perfectly good products that are destined for waste and sells them to members at discounted prices. Through its retail operation, Company Shop, and award-winning social enterprise, Community Shop, it delivers positive impact for businesses, people and planet.
By selling heavily discounted surplus products to local people, the Community Shop provides local people with both access to affordable and nutritious food while also tackling food waste in the process. The Community Shop will provide a Community Hub, set to host personal development programmes as well as a Community Kitchen which will offer hot meals prepared from surplus ingredients.
The shop is opening thanks to its supporters, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Coca-Cola Europactific Partners, a longstanding partner of Company Shop Group.
The store will be the 13th in Community Shop’s network of social supermarkets, based within some of the UK’s most deprived communities.
Over the last 10 years, Community Shop has supported over 61,000 families and helped them save more than £51m on their shopping, creating the equivalent of 30.4m meals from surplus food.
Set around three interconnected spaces, the new Community Shop in Hoyland will reinvest revenue raised in its store into its Community Hub, which will offer personal development programmes tailored to the needs of members.
Over the last decade the Community Hubs have delivered over 175,000 learning and development programmes, offering a mix of skills training and personal mentoring, with over 5,000 new skills and qualifications gained, and more than 2,500 people returning to employment as a result.
The store will also house a Community Kitchen, offering low-cost wholesome hot meals. Kids eat for free in the kitchens which, since Community Shop began in 2013, have served more than 800,000 free kids meals.
As part of its Progress Academy, a programme that directly supports people back into work, Community Shop will later this year commence the rollout of ‘Fresh Start Open Days’ across all Community Shops. The initiative is being sponsored by CCEP and will provide people with the opportunity to find out more about training and support available and directly help them into their next job.
Gary Stott, executive chairman of Community Shop, said: “We can’t wait to open Community Shop Hoyland and welcome members into their new store. Cost of living challenges remain for many people, and this store will make an enormous difference to those who may be struggling to put food on the table.
“Community Shop is much more than just food and through our ‘What If’ plan we will deliver thousands of life-changing development opportunities each year in this store. Thanks to the support of CCEP we’re also introducing Fresh Start Open Days which are specifically aimed at getting people into our Progress Academy and helping them gain the necessary skills to return to work.”
Holly Firmin, senior community partnerships manager at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said: “We’re proud to be supporting the opening of a Community Shop here in Barnsley. As a local manufacturer in Great Britain, we’re committed to supporting the communities where we operate. Our manufacturing site has been deeply rooted in the local area for 35 years, so being able to help Community Shop in their efforts to bring such an invaluable service to support local people means a lot to us.”
The store operates on a free membership basis and will be open to anyone who lives locally and receives welfare support, are on a low income or are referred to Community Shop by a partner organisation.
