In this blog Lula Wattam explores how Be Enriched, a South London charity, is harnessing the power of food to build community, tackle food insecurity, and uphold dignity through inclusive, volunteer-led initiatives.
Simon, Be Enriched employee, on the Food Float. Credit: Georgia, Media and Communications Manager BeEnriched
Be Enriched is a grassroots charity building stronger communities through food. Since 2013, they have worked to combat food insecurity in South London by increasing access to fresh, affordable meals, reducing waste, and creating welcoming spaces where people can connect. What began as a single community canteen in Tooting has grown into three volunteer-run canteens, the world’s first ever double-decker Food Bus, and the Food Float mobile greengrocer. Both deliver fresh produce at up to 25% less than supermarket prices and act as educational community hubs during the school holidays helping to tackle holiday hunger and keep children engaged.
In 2021, Be Enriched launched the Food Bus, a mobile greengrocer and community hub, with support from the Mayor of London, Feeding Britain, and later the Wimbledon Foundation. The initative was designed to make healthy, affordable food accessible to communities, while also creating educational and inclusive spaces that foster a sense of belonging and joy.
Be Enriched introduced the Food Float, a small and nimble milk float that reaches communities with fresh groceries. The float allows the team to respond quickly to changing needs, park in tighter spaces, and respond to community requests.
The float visits a variety of locations each week, including estates, hospitals, and schools. These sites are chosen to support local residents who face limited access to healthy and affordable food, often due to a lack of nearby shops, supermarkets and fresh food markets, causing a ‘food desert’.
Unlike many other community food projects, the Food Float doesn’t rely on referrals, but the service is open to all, making it more inclusive and dignified. Unlike emergency food provision, where free food is given the food is sold at wholesale prices. The float acts as a middle point between wholesalers and communities, with the team buying in bulk from wholesalers and selling as cheap as possible. This makes it more affordable than other types of retail and helps households with lower incomes to afford fresh fruit and vegetables. The team also ensures the food meets a wide variety of cultural preferences, sourcing ingredients like okra, tamarind and yam.
The Food Float and Bus also accepts Healthy Start and Alexandra Rose vouchers, which allow people with lower incomes to buy healthy food, improving local people’s access to a wide range of fruit and vegetables. Too many people fall through the cracks of traditional systems but Be Enriched aims to make sure everyone feels welcome, without stigma or barriers.
“Emergency food aid is not sustainable. People can't plan ahead and it’s not reliable enough for households. People with no access to public funds, for example, need consistency, need kitchen space, need consistent support.” Georgia, Media and Communications Manager, Be Enriched
With funding from Feeding Britain, the organisation was able to purchase a double-decker bus, fitted with a greengrocer on the ground floor and a café-style seating area on the top.
During the summer holidays, the grocery float pauses regular services and children's cookery classes take centre stage funded by HAF, the government funded Holiday activities and food programme. These sessions provide childcare support alongside nourishing food and stimulating activities filling the gap left for children during school holidays, who usually receive free school meals. All classes are free and focused on building confidence, skills and curiosity in the kitchen, with collective cooking and meal sharing.
It’s a space where children and their parents or guardians can connect and build community, with many volunteering on future projects and becoming part of the Be Enriched “food family”.
Throughout the year, Be Enriched also hosts events like smoothie giveaways on estates and collaborates with initiatives such as Too Good To Go. Workshops, estate-based pop-ups, and family-friendly programming remain central to their mission- reaching people in ways that feel familiar, accessible and fun.
Be Enriched originally started with community canteens, providing young offenders with constructive alternatives to traditional community service. The local need was so great that the project expanded into three canteens in Clapham, Elephant and Castle, and Tooting.
These are run by volunteers and operate on a suggested donation of £1. Meals are made from surplus food from partners such as City Harvest and the Felix Project. The canteens offer more than just meals, they provide welcoming spaces for local residents to share food, connect with others, and find support.
“Many people would consider this place their second home.” Guest at the Elephant and Castle canteen
Be Enriched’s work reaches far beyond food, it’s about restoring dignity, building connection, and creating spaces where people feel like they belong.
The Food Bus and Float currently make six regular stops per week and attend numerous community events, delivering fresh, affordable produce directly to areas with limited access to healthy food. These services support public health and reduce social isolation in real and practical ways.
Be Enriched’s three canteens serve around 100 people weekly. In 2023 alone, 913 volunteers helped keep them running. While 81% of guests say the canteens provide essential support in securing their food needs, it’s clear these spaces offer more than just a meal.
“The canteen is great for reducing intake of highly processed foods, which are usually the only things I can afford.” - Canteen guest
These hubs act as informal support systems. Guests learn about services such as fuel credit, health advice and employment opportunities through trusted, word-of-mouth networks.
Staff and volunteers know the names, birthdays and stories of the people they serve. Many who once came as service users now return as volunteers, showing how people move from crisis to contribution, from isolation to community. This person-centred approach is at the heart of everything Be Enriched does.
The team also takes community feedback seriously. They recently partnered with Queen Mary University to survey customers, and are commissioning local artist Lizzie’s Lines to decorate the float with a bright, cheerful mural designed with input from the people they serve.
Like many community-led projects, Be Enriched faces ongoing operational challenges. Vehicle maintenance, parking restrictions, and rising costs put pressure on their ability to deliver services consistently. Volunteer numbers have dropped since COVID, even as demand remains high. Meanwhile, funding for community food work that surged during the pandemic has now dwindled.
The team is clear that emergency food aid cannot provide the stability many households need, especially those with no recourse to public funds. Based on Dr Megan Blake’s Food Ladders approach, projects such as those run by Be Enriched act at the second rung of the Food Ladder by ‘Capacity building to enable change’, supporting those not currently in crisis but who may be struggling to access good food, enabling communities to be more adaptable by expanding what they can bring to the table to make change and increasing local food resilience.
Looking ahead, Be Enriched’s biggest goal is to maintain the high standard of service they’ve built. Rather than growing rapidly, they want to remain sustainable, responsive, and true to their values.
They’re also calling for continued investment in local, community-led food projects. With modest funding, smaller organisations like Be Enriched can have a significant and lasting impact.
“To be resilient, it's crucial we can keep offering the services we currently are. We meet people where they are, and we treat food as a tool for joy, not just survival.”- Georgia, Media and Communications Manager, Be Enriched
Find out more about Be Enriched and The Food Float. You can read more case studies of different models of community food projects here.
If you have a great community food project you would like to share, get in touch with lula.wattam@sustainweb.org.uk
Food Poverty: Championing people-powered projects that tackle the root causes of food poverty.
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