The importance of ‘shopping local’ and supporting small businesses in the community has rarely been more important than it is now.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) small and medium sized businesses account for about 60% of employment, and around half of all turnover in the UK’s private sector.
You might have heard that supporting local businesses is important, or that it has a positive impact on various things, but why exactly, you might ask, is it good to support small businesses?
By purchasing from locally owned businesses, as opposed to nationally owned ones, you are ensuring that more money is exchanged between the hands of the community. This is because locally owned businesses will often purchase from other local businesses or service providers.
For example, All About the Cooks provides a platform for members of the local community to sell their home-cooked food to people within their neighbourhoods. In doing so, we ensure that money is not passed up to larger food service monopolies, never to be seen again. Instead, the majority of the money made by our cooks exchanges hands within the community, directly from customer to cook.
As well as insuring that money is exchanged between the hands of the community, many local businesses support charities that are specifically relevant to the area in which they operate.
In the month of December, All About the Cooks are donating 100% of commission earned to the MAZI project, a local charity aiming to connect disadvantaged young people with healthy, nutritious and delicious food – read more about that here…
Small businesses can also provide community benefits outside of donations to charity. Similarly to how they support local economies, small businesses help support local people.
When the local economy is stronger, local people are able to live better. At All About the Cooks, that means giving opportunities to talented and local home-cooks to make some money from their talent – these are home-cooks who, otherwise, may not have such a platform to be able to share the food they love while making money!
One surprising impact of shopping locally, that actually makes a lot of sense, is the positive impact that it has on the environment. Most small and local businesses can be found within walking distance, and don’t emit large quantities of emissions in operating on a national, or international level. Instead, they mostly operate on a more regional level, limiting their environmental impact.
In terms of All About the Cooks, the food our home-cooks sell is made and sold on a very regional level. Most of our cooks opt for ‘collection only’ meaning that they are selling food within their local neighbourhood, and our cooks that do deliver don’t drive a HGV for hundreds of miles.
Shopping and investing in local businesses often has a strong effect on the health of local jobs in your area. By supporting your local businesses, you are ensuring that they are able to employ individuals within your community. The positive impact of shopping with small businesses has a wide scale effect on a national level.
Local businesses are the largest employer of jobs nationally! And on top of this, they tend to pay a higher than average wage to their employees than their commercial equivalent.
Lastly, but by no means the least important, supporting small businesses ensures that you get more of a choice.
Whether you’re looking for a cheaper option, something different, or if things go wrong – it’s really important to have a small, local business to be able to go to. If a large commercial business has a monopoly on a product, there is no competition around to lower the price. Nor would it be easy to find an alternative if the large company is unable to meet your requirements.
All About the Cooks provides a vast array of different cuisines for you to choose from, depending on your taste, or if you just don’t have the time to cook for all of your family or friends!
So, if you want to support a small business, your local community and your tastebuds at the same time, have a look and see who is cooking near you!
Alternatively, we are hugely proud to present our Christmas collection. Our cooks have worked really hard on their offering for the collection, so feel free to have a look and maybe buy something that jingles your bells!
We’re very proud that founder of All About The Cooks, Claire Ladkin, has been shortlisted as a Community Food Champion at the BBC Food & Farming Awards!
Our Bristol-born online marketplace for home-cooks is growing – Nick Davies and Will Hamilton join our advisory board!
For Refugee Week 2023, we look at how we’re making it easier for talented cooks from refugee and migrant backgrounds to enter the food industry!
It’s International Women’s Day 2023! Meet a few of our many amazing female cooks!
Try making Mireya’s vegan feijoada recipe for Veganuary this year.
If you like cooking, we have a New Year’s resolution that you’ll love!
