An Interview With..Kate Bull

‘An Interview with... Kate Bull’:  the co-founder of The People’s Supermarket shares her frustrations that the voluntary sector does not learn more from the private sector, and reveals she prefers fair trade over organic

For immediate release: 17 May 2011

Kate Bull, co-founder of The People’s Supermarket, tells how she is frustrated that the voluntary sector does not learn more from the most successful elements of the private sector to do the best for communities in the latest edition of “An Interview With…” the monthly podcast series by The Social Investment Business.

Bull, a long time retailer, discusses the organisation’s start-up capital difficulties and talks about how the exposure The People’s Supermarket has received due to the television programme chronicling their setup has meant they have been able to get to the position they are in today, but notes that a lot of hard work still needs to be done. Saying she interprets the Big Society as being all about inclusiveness, Bull reveals that this has been a major factor in the supermarket’s success to date. Working from the understanding that the local community had a desire to take control of where their food has come from and how it has been provided to them has enabled the cooperative to educate over 1,000 members local to their north London store about their food supply chain and connect them to farmers who can play a part in that chain.

Bull also talks through the future ambitions for The People’s Supermarket, touching on the challenges involved in the potential social franchising of the concept. Finally, Bull reveals a preference for fair trade over organic in the quick fire quiz.

The People's Supermarket was opened last summer by Kate Bull, Arthur Potts Dawson and regeneration consultant David Barrie. Today it has 13 paid staff who are helped by nearly a 1,000 members, serving over 6,000 customers a week and was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary. 

‘An Interview With...’ is a monthly podcast series from The Social Investment Business featuring short interviews with leading figures in social enterprise and civil society.

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1.  Listen to ‘An Interview With... Kate Bull' and read the full transcript here:http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/aninterviewwith/

2. The People’s Supermarket’s vision is to create a commercially sustainable, social enterprise that achieves its growth and profitability targets and advances the cause of community and healthy living. The intent is to offer a new food buying and retail network that connects an urban community with the local farming community. To find our more information on The People’s Supermarket please go to www.thepeoplessupermarket.org or follow on Twitter @TPS or Facebook thepeoplessupermarket

3. Kate Bull is available for comment or interview please call Sophie Kirkpatrick on 07584 093765

For media enquiries please contact: Greg Wixted, Xpert Communications on 0207 978 0580 or 07753 930936, Email: greg@xpertcomms.co or Sophie Kirkpatrick at TPS on 07584 093765, Email: office@thepeoplessupermarket.org

4.  For further information or interviews, please contact The Social Investment Business press office:

Liz Banks - 0207 842 7726/ 07809 504072 liz.banks@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

Nicola Jones - 0207 842 7755 nicola.jones@socialinvestmentbusiness.org 

5. The Social Investment Business, the fastest growing social investor in the UK, exists to help social enterprises, charities and community organisations do more of what they do best – supporting people and communities most in need. We help organisations prosper by providing innovative financial solutions, business support and long term strategic thinking.

www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org @TheSocialInvest

6. The Social Investment Business manages Government funds on behalf of the Office for Civil Society and the Department of Health. The Communitybuilders Fund, previously managed on behalf of the Department of Community and Local Government and the Office for Civil Society is now an endowed fund, owned and administered by the Adventure Capital Fund, parent-charity of The Social Investment Business.  We manage over 1,400 active investments ranging from £3,600 to help a small organisation bid successfully for a public sector contract, to £6.7million to help a large national charity establish and develop innovative new services for children and young people.