618% increase is bonkers!
Free fruit and vegetables update #1: Last week we trialled free fruit and vegetables in the Barunga store and there was a 618% increase in the amount of fruit and vegetables moving through the store compared to the week before. We knew there would be an increase but 618% is crazy!
“It’s really encouraging to see kids come into the store and leave with fruit in their hands” says Dom Robbie, the Stores Coordinator for AIG. “We put out a box of mandarins on Tuesday and Saturday and it took half an hour before the box was all gone. Lots of kids are just coming in and getting the fruit and sitting out the front of the store and eating it”.
The kids are keen on the fruit, but the adults have been more interested in the vegetables. Dom was in the store over the weekend and saw a real change in what shoppers were choosing. “People are choosing things they normally can’t afford like garlic, asparagus, herbs, avocados, and ginger”.
How can AIG afford to give fruit and vegetables away for free?
For the month of July supplier Simon George & Sons are working with AIG to provide fruit and vegetables free of charge. Their willingness to share our vision and extend their generosity has been amazing and we are grateful.
We believe if you look past the short term costs and focus on the long term gains of increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables in communities, this is a cheap way of preventing lifestyle diseases down the track. Sure, one month of free fruit and vegetables isn’t going to change a great deal but challenging the role of the community store can.
“It is very much our responsibility to shift the culture of store management that puts profits before people and move towards a model that will help our most vulnerable Australians to access to healthy food at a price they can afford” said AIG CEO Steve Smith.
At AIG we manage three stores in Timber Creek, Yarralin and Barunga. Our profit margins on essential items are low or non-existent across all our stores, and yet the stores are thriving. Because our prices are cheap, people buy more often, and they buy more. This has always been our business model.
What will happen after the trial period is over?
We hope to encourage other corporates that share our vision to get on board and offer to sponsor a month of free fruit and vegetables. If you’re reading this and you want in – let us know! Ring Dom on 08 89222 666.
“I want to do this for six months, and hopefully by then the data will speak for itself. We intend to lobby the government to shift towards a fruit and vegetable subsidisation model for all community stores and put an end to this abhorrent practice of making healthy essentials too expensive” said Steve.
Do we think the consumption rate will drop once the novelty wears off?
Yes to a certain extent we expect the interest to drop off a bit. But taking away the biggest barrier to healthy eating will offer us some really important insights into an alternate way of closing the gap of health inequity. We need to learn so much more about pricing structures that promote health over profits, and this is our attempt at doing that.
