The accolade recognises a company that is making a real difference within its community. In a highly competitive category, Community Shop was shortlisted alongside Central England Co-operative, General Mills, Kettle Foods, Mars Foods and Siemens. 

Community Shop is a social enterprise that redistributes surplus food from the supply chain and makes it available at heavily discounted prices to those living in areas of deprivation and experiencing in-work poverty.

Its pilot store was launched in the South Yorkshire town of Goldthorpe in December 2013 – one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK – as a membership-based store for those in receipt of income-related benefits. It gained widespread national and international media coverage upon its launch, and was highlighted as a ‘Future Icon’ of sustainable, socially impactful consumer business practice by The Big Issue magazine. 

Working with most of the major retailers and many top brands, including ASDA, Morrisons, The Co-operative, M&S, Tesco, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Ocado, Tetley, Young’s and Muller amongst others, industry support has been significant, and continues to grow. 

But it is not just access to discounted food that marks Community Shop out as Consumer Initiative of the Year. Members of the store also benefit from access to its ‘Community Hub’; where they can engage with professional mentors and seek support with budgeting and debt advice, skills training and participate in classes. The Community Hub Success Plan aims to provide a route back to financial independence, and towards mainstream retail.

Delivering maximum social, environmental and economic impact from surplus product is the driving motivation behind Community Shop, supported by Company Shop: the UK’s largest redistributor of surplus food. Following the success of the Goldthorpe pilot, preparations are well underway to launch a second pilot store in London, before expanding the network across the UK. 

Collecting the award, Mark Game, Managing Director of Company Shop, said: