Who is behind the project?
The Food Hub is a collaborative project between Cambridge Sustainable Food and The Cambridge Organic Food Co.
We are currently in the pilot phase of the Food Hub project. The final Food Hub building is still just an idea, but one that we want to make a reality.
The definition of a ‘Food Hub’ is contested, and faces some criticism for being too vague. Every Food Hub across the country is slightly different and has to be adapted to local characteristics.
To read more about Food Hubs in the UK, see the FRC’s report Food Hubs in the UK: Where are we and what next?
For more about our current activities and operations, see the ‘Services’ tab (directed towards businesses) and read our page on the ‘Local Ecosystem‘.
The details below give an outline of the activities we see our Food Hub performing:
What will the Food Hub building feature?
The Food Hub is going to be a significant food storage and distribution centre, small business incubator, shop and cafe that will service Cambridge City and surrounding area.
At the heart of the Food Hub will be a food store that will predominantly be filled with food that has come directly from farms that are local to Cambridge. This will be a place where trade buyers and chefs can come and be inspired by the very best produce that our local area has to offer.
The Food Hub will have a number of small business incubator kitchen units in which the ingredients in the food store can be transformed into all sorts of marvellous products. There will also be a training kitchen.
There will be a shop and a cafe so that people can visit the Food Hub and reconnect with their food and the way that it is produced. Small businesses who work in the incubator kitchens will each have their own’shop window’ in the retail area.
There will also be a large general purpose area which will be available for food-related community events, such as farmer’s markets, pop-up dining events or conferencing.
Read more about the original idea behind the Food Hub in our Food Hub Brochure.
Where is it going to be?
The Food Hub location is not fixed for certain and the building of the final Food Hub is some time away yet. However, we have been exploring options in the Cambridge area.
One option is in Northstowe, a new town north-west of Cambridge, and a similar distance from the centre of Cambridge as Hinxton. Northstowe is one of the NHS’s 10 Healthy New Towns so it would be a good fit for the Food Hub, which aims to reduce health inequalities. This location involves us working with the support of partners such as South Cambridgeshire District Council, Homes England, and GVA.
More details, such as regarding access links, will be added as the project progresses.
Creating a better food system for people and planet 