Foodbuy and Compass Group UK&I celebrate a decade of working with Life Water and Drop4Drop
Five Years of The Buy Social Corporate Challenge
20 July 2021
Creating jobs, changing lives and protecting the environment with the Buy Social Corporate Challenge
At Foodbuy, we’re a proud partner on the Buy Social Corporate Challenge – a ground-breaking initiative supporting large businesses to direct their procurement spend towards social enterprises – businesses with a social or environmental mission.
This month marks five years since Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) launched the challenge. Since its launch five years ago, Foodbuy and other Challenge members have collectively:
- Spent a combined £165 million with social enterprise suppliers
- Directly or indirectly created an incredible 2,030 jobs at social enterprises
- A total profit of £15.1 million reinvested into social missions
- Grown the number of Challenge members to 27 different high-profile businesses
Foodbuy and the Buy Social Corporate Challenge
Since joining the Challenge in 2019, we have spent more than £3.5million with over 20 different social enterprise businesses, including Change Please - an award-winning social enterprise coffee company who are empowering homeless by training them to be baristas. Thanks to our work with Change Please, Foodbuy and our clients have supported over 75 people out of homelessness.
As part of the Challenge, we’re committed to raising awareness of social enterprise amongst our people, suppliers and clients. Our new business team includes social enterprise suppliers in proposals to clients, proactively promoting social enterprises, articulating the benefits of working with them and demonstrating the social value that these suppliers can add to clients’ supply chains. Read more about our work with social enterprises here.
The five-year anniversary has been celebrated with the release of a Buy Social Corporate Challenge Year Five Impact Report.
The report presents key findings on UK social procurement, how participating companies are benefitting, future opportunities and a clear roadmap for other procurement professionals to get involved.
Click here to read more about our commitment to social procurement. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support your business to buy social, be sure to contact us here
