Bounceback Food CIC is a social enterprise fighting food poverty on multiple fronts. We teach people how to cook, offer a range of learning programmes, run food bank drives at market events and deliver community meal drives that provide emergency meals for our beneficiaries.
Our mission to fight food poverty became even more urgent as the impact of Covid-19 became clear, with food insecurity levels and food bank usage soaring. Here are just a few of the reasons why food poverty continues to matter in the UK:
- Since 2018, there has been a 49% increase in the number of children who are dependent on food banks in the UK. (Source: Environmental Audit Committee’s Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition in the UK Report)
- The demographic groups most likely to live in food insecurity and/or be referred to a food bank include single parents, younger people, social renters, ethnic minorities and people in poor health. (Sources: The Food Standards Agency’s The lived experience of food insecurity under Covid-19 report; The Trussell Trust’s State of Hunger 2021 Report)
- The number of distributed Emergency Food Parcels by the Trussell Trust has risen by 128% since 2015, from 1,110,000 parcels in 2014-5 to 2,540,000 in 2020-1. (Source: The Trussell Trust’s State of Hunger 2021 Report)
Since 2014 we have taught 3,500+ people how to cook, including stroke survivors, young carers, food bank beneficiaries and elderly people living in sheltered accommodation. We have also secured 10,000+ donations to food banks and generated almost 100,000 meals for people in need via our catering, community meal drives and workshops - predominantly in the North West & North Wales.
During the early stages of the pandemic, as the number of people living in food poverty increased, we scaled up our operations and responded by:
- Running Community Meal Drives in central Manchester.
- Donating all remaining stock to our Food Bank Drive in the North-West.
- Launching an online Cooking & Nutrition Portal and pledging 5 million free licenses to our Partner Charities.
- Adapting our catering service to deliver meals door to door.
- Launching online cookalongs and learning programmes to support our beneficiaries remotely.
Given the increasing scale of food poverty and rising demand for our support services, we're now focused on building an organisation capable of helping people across the country.
In 2021 we began creating connections with charities and food banks in the 20 cities where we're now actively building volunteer teams. Projects to date in cities beyond our central team base in Manchester include our national Reverse Advent Calendar campaign, annual Social Enterprise Internship programme and the development of Secret Dishes From Around the World 3 - our third fundraising cookbook.
We are actively looking for volunteers in the 20 cities where we're establishing teams: Belfast, Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Sunderland, Wakefield and York. We also have a range of remote volunteering opportunities and are planning the development of additional teams in new locations 2023 onwards - keep an eye on our social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn) or sign up to our mailing list to stay updated.
Target 1
Our first all or nothing target of £500 will raise the funds required to develop our range of fundraising merchandise. We'd like to create Bounceback branded chopping boards, tote bags and recipe calendars!
NB: The designs of each product are subject to change - we're working on several ideas for each!
All proceeds from selling these products will support Bounceback Community Cookery School teams in new locations as they're established. Funds from subsequent sales will help us to reduce reliance on grant income - our aim is to be financially self-sufficient by 2024.
The recipe calendar will be developed internally by our central team in Manchester who all played a key part in the development of Secret Dishes From Around the World 1, 2 and 3.
We’ll be working with arts organisation Hive, one of our Partner Charities in Bradford, to produce beautiful Bounceback-branded wooden chopping boards. These will also be used by our teams in Manchester, London and the 18 other cities as they are trained throughout 2022 to deliver our range of cookery workshops and learning programmes.
The tote bags will be produced by North-or-Nowt, a Leeds-based screen print and design studio, specialising in gig-poster printing for musical acts around the UK. Over the years they've supported us with the development of our t-shirts and aprons too.
Each product developed will help us to become more financially sustainable in the long-run as we reduce our reliance on grant funding and aim to become self-sufficient on trading revenue by 2024. Our exciting range of gifts, sold via our online shop and at market events, will enable us to counter the financial challenges created by the pandemic and build a strong nationwide organisation capable of meeting the increased demand for our services.
Our current product range includes our Secret Dishes From Around the World fundraising cookbook trilogy, aprons, t-shirts and gift vouchers - all of which can be ordered via our online shop.
Target 2
Additional funding will go directly towards developing Bounceback Teams across the UK. Initially volunteer-led, they will be able to:
- Work in partnership with local food banks to support them and run campaigns to encourage food bank support
- Run market stalls to collect food bank donations
- Provide catering for vulnerable people
- Deliver community cooking workshops that teach people how to cook delicious, nutritious food
Each team requires appropriate training, access to resources and kitchen equipment. Our aim is to have a minimum of 20 volunteer-led teams in place across the UK by the end of 2024, supported by central teams in Manchester and London plus a wider network of corporate partners.
