Local sandwich bars unsustainable, says new report

Local independent cafés and sandwich bars are struggling to survive despite the public spending over £10 billion per year on casual food when out and about, according to An Inconvenient Sandwich a new report by the independent think tank nef (new economics foundation).

While DEFRA claims that it wants to ensure that consumers “can choose, and afford, healthy, sustainable food”  independent sandwich bars and cafes are facing increasing pressures that prevent them from providing either healthy or sustainable products.  This is down to their reliance on a very small group of major wholesalers, combined with competition from fast food giants who are able undercut costs throughout their supply chains.

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. There might have been a massive growth in consumers choosing ethical options, but that is not being reflected when we purchase our daily sandwich or kebab.”

The report highlights the hidden costs of the cheap takeaway sandwich:

• Heavily processed food from unsustainable sources;
• Food loaded with calories, fat and sugar;
• Poor working conditions throughout the supply chain,
• A lack of realistic options independent sandwich bars and cafes face even if they want to provide healthy and sustainable products.  

“This report is really about the throw away economics of takeaway food,” says Rosalind Sharpe, “our hectic consumerist lifestyle depends on the quick, portable, cheap food we buy from cafés and takeaways. But this casual food requires cheap raw materials, a cheapening of the value of life and labour, and a disregard for harmful knock-on effects in the present and the future. 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. ”