Buy Local - North West Food and Drink

Cost Saving Tips

In itself, a policy of buying locally produced food and drinks direct from the producer can be a simple and effective way of saving money. However, there are other useful ways of keeping costs down including group purchasing agreements, energy efficiency and waste saving measures.

There are a number of North West based companies that help private and voluntary sector organisations to work together to form purchasing groups. One such organisation is Value Works, which notes that group purchasing needn't only apply to food and drink; it works equally well for everything from office supplies to intangibles such as electricity supplies and insurance.

In addition, there are a number of free, publicly funded projects currently operating in the region that can help small and medium sized businesses to reduce waste costs and minimise their utility bills. These include the Resource Efficiency Centre, on which Nimtech is a partner, and the North West Centre for Waste Management, run by UCLan. Both offer free advice, environmental reviews and cost saving recommendations for companies in eligible areas.

Finally, UCLan's PIKE project can help local companies to safeguard themselves against crime and disorder. The PIKE team took a stand at Buy Local 2008 and explained the free support and advice that is available to North West SMEs.