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Community cafes and retailing

Community cafes provide healthy eating options at low cost, as well as a range of other community benefits such as reduced social isolation, skills development and increased local spending. CFHS works to improve the practice of community cafes through facilitating networking opportunities.

Community retailers (food co-ops, shops and other outlets) increase access to affordable healthy food as well as having a broader community role.

CFHS is also on the board of Plunkett Scotland, which represents community-owned shops in some of Scotland’s remotest communities.

Our plan for 2019/20

To continue to support for the community cafe sector to build its capacity and improve its practice.
To continue to support the community retailing sector to apply learning and identify opportunities for sustaining and developing the sector.

News and updates

Cafes in communities

Posted: January 17, 2019

Are you involved in running a café in a local community (geographical or shared interest) run for local people and/or by local people on a ...

Self-evaluation programme for community cafes

Posted: April 24, 2018

Between August 2017 and March 2018 we worked with a small group of community cafes to look at self-evaluation. Together they developed a list of community cafe ...

Community Food Social Enterprise Network and community retailers ‘sharing good practice’ sessions

Posted: April 10, 2018

Around 40 community food initiatives took part in an event on 7 March, run jointly by CFHS and Senscot. A community food social enterprise network ...

‘Take Five’ national community cafe networking event, 28 September 2017

Posted: February 14, 2018

'Take Five’ was the fifth national community café networking event run by/with Community Food and Health (Scotland). Around 30 people took part. Our event was ...

Community Food Social Enterprise Network and community retailers ‘sharing good practice’ sessions

Posted: February 1, 2018

Grassmarket Community Project Edinburgh Senscot and CFHS are running two sessions on 7 March for community food social enterprises and community retailers. The morning session will ...

New community retailing publications

Posted: February 1, 2018

Two new publications about community retailing are now available. Strengthening the future of community retailing is an accessible summary of research carried out for us in ...

Community café self evaluation group – outcomes to evaluate impact

Posted: January 11, 2018

We have been working with a group of community cafes to look at self-evaluation. Together they have developed a list of community cafe outcomes to reflect the range of ...

Community retailers get together to share good practice

Posted: November 2, 2017

Six community retailers met recently to share what was working well for them, their ideas for their community retailing services, and the challenges they were ...

Community café self-evaluation programme

Posted: May 8, 2017

Would you like your cafe to be able to demonstrate the difference it’s making to your staff, volunteers, customers and community? Would you like to be ...

Community cafe learning visits

Posted: April 26, 2017

In October 2016, CFHS held three community café learning visits. An infographic and short report about the visits, and their impact on the participants that took ...

- Our Work

CFHS Blog

NEW – we are expanding our blog to include posts on a wider range of subjects. Have a look here .. »
Publications
- Strengthening the future for community retailers
  This publication is an accessible summary of research carried for us out in 2016 by the University of Stirling's Institute for Retail Studies. It looked at ...
- Staying power
  This publication consolidates and reflects on the key findings and recommendations included in five pieces of research about community retailing, which were carried out between 2007 and ...
- Community cafe learning event report
  This CFHS factsheet reports on three community cafe learning visits that took place between November 2014 and February 2015.
- Food plus in practice
  How community food initiatives working to reduce food poverty are delivering a range of services. The publication includes examples of eight community food initiatives that ...
- Community cafe event, June 2014
  CFHS held a networking event for community cafes on 26 June 2014 in Glasgow. The aims of the event were to give everyone taking part ...
- Emergency food aid: a national learning exchange
  This report and summary is the product of discussions that included practitioners, planners, policy makers and academics. Discussions centred around viewing emergency food aid as ...
- The contribution of community food initiatives to national food and health programmes
  In 2012, Community Food and Health (Scotland) provided funding totalling £15,000 for six community food initiatives to build on their current work with one or ...
- Evaluation of the impact of the Scottish Grocers Federation Healthy Living Programme on community retailers
  This research looks at the impact of the Scottish Grocers Healthy Living Programme's training and resources on community retailers selling fruit and vegetables. The research ...
- Local food micro funding
  CFHS fact sheet that summarises the feedback obtained from six community food initiatives funded by CFHS to buy and sell or use more locally-grown fruit and ...
- Impact of ‘winter promotion’ funding, 2013
  CFHS fact sheet that summarises the feedback obtained from community food retailers funded by CFHS to run promotional activities in winter 2013.