Every £1 spent here is £2 for Scotland
Reuben runs Locavore, a sustainable supermarket chain doubling its value to Scotland's economy
15th October 2021
Reuben runs Locavore, a sustainable supermarket chain doubling its value to Scotland's economy
15th October 2021
Meet Reuben, the founder of Locavore, a supermarket chain with a difference.
Locavore owns a market garden and runs a veg box scheme as well as a growing string of shops across Glasgow. A social enterprise, it takes the money spent on its premises and ploughs it back into the community, and the environment - getting healthy, sustainable food to those who need it most, and giving others opportunities to establish market gardening businesses.
Their impact report, informed by New Economic Foundation research, suggests that every £1 spent with Locavore is worth £1.92 to Glasgow’s economy, or £2.36 overall to Scotland’s economy. And they have plans to do more: growing from 3 to 10 stores across Scotland over the next few years.
In this film, Reuben talks about Locavore's own journey so far, from starting as a veg box scheme to opening their first shop in Glasgow. He explains why a loan from LEAP, an innovative funding programme from the Real Farming Trust, is so different to a bank loan, and how it helped them scale up.
The film is one of a series produced by Real Farming Trust, showing how LEAP is plugging a gap in finance for small agroecological food and farming enterprises. The Real Farming Trust is now looking to support 12 more agroecological food and farming enterprises from across the food chain which are past the start-up stage and seeking funding of £20,000-£100,000 to develop further. Find out more
