THE owners of a Barry store have set up a brand-new project combining customers’ buying power with their own valuable supplier’s contacts to reduce the price of people’s food bills.
B&D received a huge response when we paid tribute to Awesome Wales café and zero waste store on Holton Road, which sadly closed its doors in April, however, the story is not over for owners Amy Greenfield and Stuart Burnell – in fact they still run the very popular Eto pre-loved kids clothes store across the street.
And, in-fact, we said ‘to be continued’ in that story – and here it is.
Ms Greenfield and Mr Burnett have another project they’ve set up to help the people of Barry keep food costs down called ‘Pantri i Bawb’ (pantry for everyone).
Pantri i Bawb is a food store with a difference.
Customers can order online and get produce at wholesale price – largely with the help of Mr Burnett’s and Ms Greenfield’s contacts through having run the Awesome Wales store.
Then, once you’ve placed your order you go to ‘pantry day’ - which takes place once a month – to collect your goods.
But Pantri i Bawb has added elements that make it much more engaging than just walking the aisles of a supermarket, throwing tins of food into a trolley, while telling the kids to stop fighting…
At ‘pantry days’ you can get involved, building your own order from the goods that have arrived while perhaps helping build other orders, and in keeping with the Awesome zero-waste theme, there’s less packaging involved.
There’s also a chance for the community to come together, something Ms Greenfield tells us more about.
“This project will help you eat better, use less packaging, but the most important thing is the community.
“There are little magical moments during our pantry events like one time a person wanted to build a compost bin, and their neighbour was at the event, and they got chatting and it turned out there was a spare pallet going round to help make it happen.”
Pantri i Bawb already has 35 families signed up and there’s no membership fee other than a £5 donation every month to help the pantry events run.
“It is about allowing people to see what is possible,” said Ms Greenfield. “You do not just have to go to the supermarket and work your life round their pricing structure, a lot of which people cannot afford.”
Pantry days are aimed to be held once a month with the next one scheduled for Wednesday, August 7, 6pm to 8pm at Pioneer Hall, 2 Beryl Rd, Barry CF62 8DN.
Find out more about Pantri I Bawb and see what they have to offer at awesome.wales/pantri-i-bawb/.
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