We know that cost has a big influence on whether people buy fruit and vegetables. We also know the long term health benefits of better nutrition is worth investing in. So, with those two pearls of wisdom we’ve decided to do something radical (surprise surprise) and trial free fruit and vegetables in the Bagala Community Store in Barunga.
Stores must serve the needs of the community
It does sound crazy, we agree, but is absolutely in line with our mandate of community stores being social enterprises that serve the long and short term needs of the community. We believe dollar for dollar, the gains made from having free fruit and vegetables in the stores will increase tenfold through health gains made by improving nutrition in the community as a whole.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve played around with pricing of fruit and vegetables to promote increased consumption” says AIG CEO Steve Smith. “Last year during the COVID community lockdown we reduced the price of fruit and vegetables to cost price in the stores that we manage, so people could afford to shop exclusively at their community store. This move busted the myth that people don’t eat fruit and vegetables because the sales data across all stores showed an average of 100% increase in fruit and vegetable sales after the price drop”.
We are serious about Closing the Gap
Making fruit and vegetable free is taking our approach of affordable healthy food one step further. “If we are serious about Closing the Gap then we need to be serious about improving the affordability of healthy food” said Steve “If we can do this as a small, independent provider, imagine what could be achieved if this was a widespread approach?”.
AIG will be tracking sales data closely to watch consumer behaviour, but we’re pretty sure we know what they outcome will be.
If our hunch is correct, we’ll be lobbying the government to subsidise all fruit and vegetables sold in community stores in a real attempt to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal people who shop from community stores.
Prevention is better than a cure
“The cost of illness prevention is far less than illness treatment. We challenge the government to see this approach as being a huge cost saving measure, and in fact $1 spent in subsidising fruit and vegetables in community stores now could possibly save the government as much as $10 in treating chronic lifestyle diseases down the track” said Steve.
Barunga as the pilot site
From July 1 all fruit and vegetables will be free in the Bagala Store in Barunga. We’ve chosen this site for a number of reasons. Barunga is a culturally significant site (the Barunga Statement) and because it is one of the only sites in the country that is 100% Aboriginal owned, staffed, and managed. In addition, we are confident it will be able to cope with the increase in customers from neighbouring communities looking for their share of free fruit and vegetables. Management is strong at the store and the community trust in the store is good.
We would like to thank Simon George & Sons supplier for sharing our vision and agreeing to supply free fruit and vegetables to the Barunga for one month.
