Local cafés and sandwich bars are failing to offer healthy, nutritious products due to competition and a reliance on a small group of nation-wide wholesalers.
These were the findings of An Inconvenient Sandwich, a report from think tank New Economics Foundation published last Friday.
Rosalind Sharpe, author of the report said: “Our small independent cafes and sandwich bars are finding themselves locked into a vicious cycle where they can only survive by buying unsustainable supplies and employing cheap labour…... We want to get discussion going on how our local independent takeaways and cafes can both survive and give their customers real choice and sustainable options. ”
New Covent Garden Market has kick-started the debate already. “The report highlights how important independent cafes are to the local community as opposed to the chains, but it is not surprising that given the low margins most of these outlets run on mean that sustainable sourcing is low on their agenda,” said a spokeswoman for the Covent Garden Market Authority. Also, time is a factor. “Working 10 hours a day, cafes will take the easy option for ordering their supplies, so it would have perhaps been more constructive to show cafes how fruit and vegetables could add to their offer and not just as a garnish.”
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