Our latest news, blogs, ideas, tips and opinion pieces
Helping with Covid-19: all the links for resources and funding opportunities
All over the UK communities are coming together to support people who are self-isolating. They are finding ways to distribute food effectively while maintaining a physical distance from each other. Simultaneously farmers, growers, food businesses, cafes and...
Changes to the way card payments are made
You may be aware that legislative changes have arrived that change the way shoppers make card purchases online. The changes are known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). These changes have been implemented to protect customers from fraud when making card...
Voices from our first Community Gathering
Last Wednesday producers, retailers and representatives from community food organisations met in The Friends of the Earth Warehouse, Birmingham, with the OFN UK team. It was a unique opportunity for people, from as far and wide as Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides, to...
We’ve got new funding!
We’re very pleased to announce that Open Food Network UK has been awarded funding from the Big Lottery Community Fund Digital Stream. The BLCF Digital Fund aims to boost the social tech sector in the UK. The fund is supporting charities to use digital to transform...
Want to grow your community food enterprise in 2020? – OFN Group Coaching
In February OFN UK will be launching our next Group Coaching Programme. This programme is perfect for anyone wanting to grow their sales and customers for their community food enterprise. A community food enterprise can be any enterprise that distributes food for...
Join us at the Oxford Real Farming Conference!
Getting produce to customers and managing the distribution, retail and admin stuff is often a real sticking point for food enterprises. So the Open Food Network has been set up by a group of community activists who are passionate about setting up local food systems...
Can we make you love accounting?
Many small food businesses start with passion. Maybe as a maker you start out selling to friends and family and soon realise that there is a demand for what you make. Maybe you start out with a vision to make healthy food more accessible in your area. Keeping good...
Big Improvements to your Shopfront
The latest release of the Open Food Network was deployed this week. Although it doesn’t look different we’ve made some big changes to improve the performance of your shopfront behind the scenes. Shopfronts with up to 10,000 products will load within 2 seconds. This...
In support of Extinction Rebellion
Several people in the Open Food Network (OFN) have been drawn to support the Extinction Rebellion (XR) in recent days. They are joining thousands of ordinary people from all walks of life who are taking the extraordinary (for them) step of taking to the streets and...
Win a Marketing Support Package for your Shop!
At the Open Food Network, our primary mission is to help food enterprises to thrive! So we're offering two of our food enterprises the chance to WIN bespoke marketing support to help promote and build your enterprise in the lead up to Christmas and beyond. Two...
A trip to Cultivate, Powys as part of the Procurement For Good project
The Procurement For Good project team visited Cultivate in Newtown and other inspiring community food hubs in Powys, celebrating local sustainable food initiatives, new grower schemes, and the future of public sector food procurement. On a sunny Wednesday in April,...
Visit to Better Food Shed with Procurement For Good
Continuing our series of hub visits as part of the Procurement For Good project, in April we travelled to London to visit the Better Food Shed
Flower Grower Collective: Collaboration. Community. Creativity.
We are very pleased that The Flower Grower Collective (FGC) has been awarded funding through the prestigious Farming Innovation Programme.
Visit to Propagate & Galloway Food Hub
At the end of January the Procurement For Good (P4G) project team travelled to Dumfries for the first of four hub visits.
The Open Food Network has been invited to be an ambassador of the EU Proximity and Social Economy Platform
The Open Food Network is now an ambassador for the EU Proximity and Social Economy Platform! Diesis is a global network of social entrepreneurs supporting the development of the social economy, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. The Network aims to...
Manda Scott joins OFN UK as an ambassador
We are very pleased to welcome Manda Scott as an ambassador. This is what she said about the OFN: "You're being the change we need to see. At a core level, we need total systemic change and shifting our food/farming system to something based in co-operation and...
Procurement For Good project begins
We are extremely excited to announce that we have started work on the Procurement For Good (P4G) project as of the beginning of October 2024. Procurement for Good (P4G) is a £1.9m research project led by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and...
Celebrating nature and following its rhythms
Can you hear the birds chirping outside your window? This is the sound of Spring! The days are getting longer - finally! We will soon be leaving the dark half of the year and embracing the early spring rays of the Sun! Soon, it will be time to celebrate the Spring...
Open Food Network wins the award for digital innovation in the European Social Economy Awards
There were more than 500 nominations for this award from all over Europe. Open Food Network Europe gets the prize in the section about social economy initiatives operating in the digital economy or with an important focus on technological innovation and/or working...
Hybiau Caffael Bwyd Cynaliadwy yng Nghymru
Dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, mae'r Open Food Network UK wedi bod yn gweithio ar gynllun peilot arloesol i ddangos dichonoldeb cyflenwi bwyd lleol ar blât cyhoeddus Cymru. Gan weithio gyda phartneriaid o Ffermydd a Gerddi Cymdeithasol, Cultivate, Cymdeithas...