The businesses buying their way to £1b with social enterprises

At Foodbuy Group, we believe our buying power should create positive social impact and we know our size and scale can make a difference.

 

That’s why we support the Buy Social Corporate Challenge, led by Social Enterprise UK. It’s a commitment to increasing our spend with social enterprises, those businesses that reinvest profits to tackle social and environmental issues. The Buy Social Corporate Challenge launched in 2016 with a group of 36 businesses that are aiming to collectively spend £1b with social enterprises through procurement. So far, they have now achieved a collective spend of £864m.

 

Foodbuy Group has so far spent £25m with voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) since we joined the Buy Social Corporate Challenge in 2019.

 

By working with VCSEs, we can deliver high-quality, innovative solutions while also reinvesting value into local communities, supporting inclusive employment and driving measurable social impact. This approach strengthens our supply chain, supports our environmental and social governance commitments and ensures our procurement decisions create lasting benefits for both our clients and the communities we serve.

 

Through Foodbuy Group, we are embedding social value into sourcing decisions, evolving the way we spend and the value we bring – identifying where social enterprises can meet category needs while adding wider impact.

 

A key example of how we connect our business with innovative new suppliers is our successful Pitch Social initiative, where we bring together social enterprises and sector teams from across the Compass business to explore live opportunities. The event gives social enterprises, minority-owned suppliers and other small to medium-sized enterprises a platform to access a multibillion-pound supply chain within the foodservice industry.

 

When we think about some of the suppliers that have come through this route, it’s clear the programme has opened up doors for us and the suppliers we’re now working with. These include the Uncommon, an English winemaker known for pioneering sustainable formats in award-winning sparkling wine production; Page & Bloom, which creates handcrafted paper flowers made from recycled paper; and the Glasshouse, which provides horticultural training and employment for female ex-offenders.

 

Our focus remains on scaling this impact, expanding opportunities, strengthening supplier support and embedding social value into how we buy every day.

 

By continuing this work, we can help build a more inclusive, sustainable supply chain while delivering value to our clients and communities.

 

Read the 2026 Buy Social Corporate Challenge report

 

Nilay Mukherjee is a sustainability executive at Foodbuy Group

 

What is This Is Hospitality?

Three easy ways to get involved

Get behind our This is Hospitality campaign and you could help change the perception of your industry. 

 

Follow us on our dedicated page www.thecaterer.com/thisishospitality and on Instagram @thecaterermag for news and updates.

 

Send in your short videos or share them on social media, explaining why you love working in hospitality, and support the campaign using the hashtag #thisishospitality

 

Email us. If you have suggestions for our campaign or want to share a positive story about our industry, get in touch at thisishospitality@thecaterer.com

 

This Is Hospitality