Join FoodFriends – a monthly lottery for people who love local food and want to influence positive change.
What is FoodFriends?
FoodFriends is a fundraising lottery scheme with monthly prizes. It supports the local production of nature-friendly, organic food for the community now and into the future.
What is the money used for?
The FoodFriends scheme raises funds to help train and enable new small-scale farmers in the Lancaster District. It supports the development of regenerative local food projects and the distribution of local food, making it easier for people to buy locally grown food.
Why is financial support needed for local food production?
Large scale agriculture in the UK is almost always supported by government subsidies. However, for farming operations under five hectares, there is no government support available. It is exceedingly difficult to get grant funding for new enterprises. The FoodFriends scheme was set up to fill this gap.
What projects does the FoodFriends scheme support?
FoodFriends have supported the set up and development of two sites in North Lancashire called The Plot – an outdoor growing site on an existing organic farm and an indoor growing site on White Lund estate in Morecambe.
Both sites form the FarmStart training centre and since January 2021 the Plot has been training an annual cohort of FarmStarters. The sites also grow organic produce which is sold locally.
Our FarmStarters take part in comprehensive, practical training in how to grow and develop a market garden and set up small-scale food enterprises as part of a wider strategy to grow a resilient local food economy.
What do I get when I join up?
As well as the monthly draw for prizes, members receive regular updates, information and opportunities to get involved in the projects that FoodFriends funds. Members also receive an annual report with a summary of project progress.
What prizes can I win?
Each month, you will enter into a prize draw to win one of six £30 Local Food Vouchers from one of the participating local food partners listed on this page.
Our partner organisations share a commitment to developing a fair and ethical local food economy. Not only does this scheme support local food projects, it also encourages and promotes local shopping benefiting the local food economy.
How does FoodFriends Work?
You sign up by direct debit via GoCardless to buy a FoodFriends Member Number and pay Monthly or Annually
Each Member Number is for £5 per month.
You can buy as many Member Numbers as you want.
You can also buy a Member Numbers for a year as a gift for someone else.
Once you sign up via GoCardless, your Member Number(s) will be allocated and sent via email.
You must be over 16 to participate.
A random draw will be made every month with a minimum of 6 Local Food Vouchers worth £30 each to be spent with one of our Food Partners.
If you win a voucher, you choose which Food Partner to redeem it with.
Additional prizes will also be available from time to time and as the membership grows.
The funding raised through FoodFriends is used to support the development of regenerative local food projects and the training of new small-scale farmers.
Our current partners include:
Single Step, Lancaster
Selling vegan wholefoods, fruit and vegetables, pulses, grains, flour, spices, fresh products, toiletries, snacks and other gifts and products, Single Step is a not-for-profit organisation committed to healthy, environmentally friendly, local and fair trade products. Voucher winners can choose from a basket of ethical, organic food for a weekly shop, fair-trade wines or chocolate, or other treats such as Zaytoun medjool dates from Palestine.
Claverhill
A six-acre community farm on the edge of Lancaster. FoodFriends winners will get a seasonal hamper which will include a seasonal selection of vegetables grown in the no-dig beds, salad bags, fresh cut herbs, chutneys, jams, fresh cut flowers, kimchi, cider, dried teas and herbs, marigold oil and a calendar/postcards.
The Quarterhouse, Lancaster
An independent, chef-owned kitchen and bar in Lancaster’s cultural Canal Quarter They buy produce from our FarmStart location The Plot! Winners can use the discount code provided to book for brunch, lunch or a delicious dinner. They are excited to welcome you!
The Fig Tree
A specialist fair-trade chocolatier based in Garstang. Using cocoa beans from New Koforidua in Ghana, Africa’s first Fair-Trade town, the beans to bar chocolate is available in a bespoke hamper for prize-winners. Bars include milk, vegan and dark chocolate, flavoured with mint, raspberry and orange. There is also a range of handmade individual chocolates. Voucher winners can customise their chocolate hamper to suit their preferences.
Land and Sea Lancaster
A place of experimentation and meeting point for the conscious to gather and connect. Land and Sea host retreats, events and experiences with a focus on human rewilding and nature connection. Voucher winners can use the discount code provided to book onto any of the Food Events and Supper Clubs they are hosting. They are excited to welcome you!
Cockerham Boers
The UK’s longest established producer of high quality goat meat born and reared on our own farm meaning we can guarantee the quality of the meat, the welfare standards we work to and our levels of wildlife friendly and environmentally sound farming. Buy directly from the farm or from occasional markets in Lancaster and Preston. Local deliveries are offered from £5. Vouchers can be used against any purchase of goat meat, from an individual pack of chops, mince or sausage up to a full joint or a pack of goat meat.
The Old Gun Shop
Pure Vegan
Pure vegan is an all-vegan food business established in 2015 as a market stall. After years of hard work and persistence we are now finally in our dream cafe.
We love to make delicious food and homemade cakes for our lovely customers to enjoy in our cosy and relaxed cafe, we also offer specialist coffee and teas.
Pure Vegan takes pride in working in partnership with the FoodFriends scheme as we understand the importance of food quality and the importance of locally sourced food. We are thrilled when a winner selects us for their voucher!
Tuck Cafe
Tuck Cafe has opened in the former Mad Hunter restaurant on Meeting House Lane in Lancaster.
Tuck bake their own bread and offer a menu including eggs on toast, dal and roti, overnight oats, hummus and pickles, welsh rarebit, toast and jam, Leek and potato soup, and toasties with unusual filling such as cheddar and kimchi, caponata hummus and pesto, leek potato and goat’s cheese.
Goosenargh Gin
Multi international award-winning Goosnargh Gin is lovingly crafted by Richard and Rachel Trenchard, at their working distillery based at the foot of Beacon Fell.
Being situated on the edge of the Forest of Bowland Natural Landscape (Formerly AONBs) in the parish of Goosnargh, Lancashire, they are immersed in the inspiration for their spirits.