Foodies to give specialist food and drink producers high street presence

Specialist, independent and artisan food producers are being offered a high street presence in one of the UK’s biggest cities with the launch of a new social enterprise venture.

Foodies will provide retail space for up to 60 independent producers of high quality, specialist, and artisan foods in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries, later this month.

If it is successful, there are plans by the Scottish Design Exchange, which is behind the new brand, to launch similar stores in other cities.

The Glasgow store will provide space for producers of coffee and specialist teas, honey, jams and chutneys, relishes and pickles, sauces, marinades, and glazes. It will also sell, biscuits, chocolate, oatcakes, soft drinks, herbs, spices, and seasonings.

Producers will pay a small fixed, monthly fee to rent space in city centre store, and they will keep 100% of their sales, so they’re not penalised for the popularity of their products.

The Scottish Design Exchange (SDX) is a non-profit social enterprise which has provided high street retail space for hundreds of artists and designers for a fraction of the cost they would otherwise pay in commission to outlets and galleries, which can be as high as 60%.

Its retail spaces and online store have generated more than £6million of revenue for independent producers since SDX launched in 2015.

Chief executive Lynzi Leroy said the launch of Foodies is in response to overwhelming demand from SDX traders and customers for a dedicated food store. She anticipates the new store will be popular with tourists as well as customers from Glasgow and further afield.

She said: “For nearly a decade, we have been supporting artists and designers to grow and develop their businesses, as well as making their passion their livelihood. Now we are looking to do the same for those who make amazing food.

“The UK has a huge number of small, specialist and artisan food producers but many struggle to find places to sell their premium products. With the cost of ingredients rising over the past few years, profit margins for food producers have been badly hit.

“Farmers’ markets provide a great opportunity for food producers, but they are sporadic and they tend to take place only at weekends.

“They can also be expensive, and footfall can be affected by poor weather. Other outlets, such as independent delis, tend to be off the beaten track, in areas of towns and cities, that don’t always get the footfall required to allow food producers to make a reliable profit.”

The new store will bring the total number of Scottish Design Exchange (SDX) outlets to four. Its existing shops, in Buchanan Galleries, George Street and the Royal Mile, in Edinburgh currently provide retail space for 320 artists, designers, and local craftspeople.

Foodies will be located one unit away from the SDX Glasgow store which has been trading in Buchanan Galleries for the past five years. During that time, it has built a loyal customer base, generating more than 32,000 transactions, worth a total of £832,000 in sales, in the past year alone.

Leroy said: “Our customer research suggests we will get a similar footfall for our food producers, as we have achieved for our artist and designers.

“We have sold a few food products, such as honey, dressings, chocolate, tablet, spice mixes and hot sauces and at our stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh and they have always been popular with customers.”

She added: “The fixed-fee model we run at the SDX – and will now introduce into Foodies – will ensure that producers get to keep 100 percent of all sales made.

“Our tried-and-tested model allows independent and small businesses the chance to earn the lion’s share of their profits, with dedicated sales staff in store to sell the products.

“We also provide traders with support for their marketing and branding, helping them to get the word out about their product to the wider market.”

Leroy said she has been thinking about launching a dedicated food store for several years, but that conditions were never quite right, until now.

She said: “When we first discussed the idea with Buchanan Galleries, prior to the Covid pandemic, they were very supportive, but successive lockdowns forced us to delay our plans.

“When a suitable unit became available earlier this year, we knew the time was right to open Foodies and provide local food producers, a store for people who want to shop specifically for specialist food and drink products.”

She added: “We have been lucky to have had support from the management team in Buchanan Galleries, who have always been behind our model, providing additional marketing opportunities for our brands, through their social media platform, which has a fantastic reach.”