ANCOATS Food Assembly has been told to shut up shop by the end of September. The founders of this nationwide collective of websites linking artisan food producers to consumers are pulling the plug after it hasn’t been the success they hoped.
For the moment Ancoats customers can continue to place their online orders for this weekly source of quality fresh produce, collecting it every Thursday at Seven Bro7hers Beerhouse at 33 Blossom Street M4 5AF.
Like the other Assembly organisers, Helen Cooper (below) paid a commission for the right to run the Ancoats one, which seemed to marry with its profile as the foodie quarter par excellence, but she tells us: “Business has fallen off since the New Year. People settled for supermarket shopping rather than pay the premium for what we were offering. We’ll be talking to customers but it is hard to see it continuing without the website structure.”
It’s such a pity. The writing was on the wall when the Stretford-based South Manchester Assembly gave up the ghost a while back.
Ironically he Ancoats Assembly, launched a year ago, had just been shortlisted for Best Pop Up/Event/Project in the 2018 Manchester Food and Drink Awards.
Its ethical selling point was urban customers would be saving on food miles. Seven miles is the average distance away for the producers – Dormouse Chocolates; Groobarbs Wild Farm and Abbey Leys Farm, both High Legh near Knutsford; Little Heath Farm, Dunham Massey; Pextenement Cheese Co, Todmorden; Moveable Feasts, Los Antojitos hot sauces and salsas, both Chorlton; Hello Pure, Bowdon; The Pasta Factory, Shudehill; Manchester Smoke House, Cheetham Hill.
Helen, who coordinates Moveable Feasts and Los Antojitos, said: “The Assemblies seemed to work better in rural areas, where there was less competiton from big stores.”
Those consumers seeking a similar ‘farm to table’ shopping experience may have to wait until late 2019 for Farm Drop to expand from its South East and Bristol heartland after fresh investment. It delivers direct to customers over 2,000 products ranging from meat and dairy, to household and larder supplies, while paying its farmers at least 70 per cent of the purchase price.