Growing Communities South
A not-for-profit organic veg bag scheme delivering fresh, local produce to a network of community collection points across South London every Thursday.
Background
Growing Communities South is part of the alternative 5% — a not-for-profit working to challenge a UK grocery market where 95% of food is sold through just six supermarket chains. Every Thursday, the team delivers fresh, organic veg bags sourced from local farms to a network of community collection points across South London, supporting independent growers, healthier eating and lower food miles.
Customers can choose from five different veg bags and a fruit bag to suit different households and appetites, ordering on a weekly, fortnightly or one-off basis. Alongside the bags, a growing range of add-ons — bread, dried goods and seasonal extras — makes it easy to do more of the weekly shop through the scheme, while keeping money in the local food economy and farmers paid fairly.
How our platform has helped Growing Communities South
Growing Good supports Growing Communities South across the moving parts that make a multi-collection-point scheme work — and has helped them launch new offerings to give customers more choice.
Managing multiple collection points. The platform lets the team coordinate orders across their full South London network, with each collection point's customer list, picking sheet and delivery sheet generated automatically. Volunteers and hosts know exactly what's arriving where, and the team can add or adjust collection points without rebuilding the operational setup behind them.
Introducing the Flexi Bag with swaps. With the platform's swap functionality, Growing Communities South was able to launch their Flexi Bag — a veg bag that gives customers the flexibility to exchange items they don't want for ones they do, before the Sunday cut-off. It keeps the operational simplicity of a fixed bag while giving members a much more personalised experience, reducing waste and cancellations.
Add-ons to increase spend and flexibility. The Add-Ins and Fruit categories live alongside the core bags, letting customers top up their order with bread, dried goods and seasonal extras on either a recurring or one-off basis. This drives up average order value while giving members a fuller weekly shop from a trusted local source — a win for the scheme, the farmers and the household.
