A social enterprise run by students at the University of Bristol has won a top award for its efforts to provide free meals for the community from food which would otherwise be thrown away.
FoodCycle Bristol, an initiative which helps to alleviate food poverty in the city, was named Best Social Enterprise at the SETsquared Partnership’s second annual student enterprise awards.
The winners were chosen from thousands of students at the five SETsquared member universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey.
Since its launch in 2009, FoodCycle Bristol has served more than 2,000 free meals from its base in Easton Community Centre, where it operates on a weekly basis.
On average it serves up 50 free three-course meals every Sunday for local people.
In autumn 2010 it started a pop-up restaurant which now operates fortnightly and feeds 120 students at £3 a meal which ensures the project is self-sustaining.
FoodCycle Bristol is completely co-ordinated by students and volunteers from the community who either help run the kitchen or transport the waste food to the kitchen using cycle trailers.
With more than 500 volunteers, widespread engagement from the community and having registered just under £3,000 profit this year, the scheme hopes to set up a second community kitchen in the near future.
FoodCycle Bristol coordinator Adam Smith, who is studying for a Masters in Physics, said: “Winning this award is a testament to the hard work put in by the team of managers over the last year and great recognition for the growth and development of the Foodcycle Bristol project in that time.
“It was fantastic to meet so many vibrant people at the awards evening with such different and great ideas, and it was great to see both staff and students from the different universities working together with common interests.”
Guest presenter was Simon Woodroffe OBE, founder of Yo! Sushi, who presented the awards and inspired the students by recounting his experience of creating a set of successful businesses under the Yo! brand.
University of Bristol head of enterprise Education Dave Jarman said: “I'm really proud of all Bristol's entries this year and it's fantastic to win the Best Social Enterprise category.”
He also praised the team behind student-run production company In House Media. Clara Hargreaves (2nd year BA Drama) and Thibault Jeangout (2nd year MSci Environmental Geoscience) were named Bristol University’s Student Enterprise Champions.
