Better Food

What Better Food does

Better Food is a Bristol-based organic food retailer and café operator founded in approximately 1992 by Phil Haughton. The company operates four physical retail stores and three cafés across Bristol neighborhoods (St Werburghs, Whiteladies Road, Wapping Wharf, and Gloucester Road), selling organic produce, health and bodycare products, and specialty grocery items alongside on-site café service. The cafés were the first in England to receive the Soil Association's Organic Served Here certification, with 93% of café food certified organic. There is no e-commerce or delivery offering; all sales occur through company-owned retail locations.

The business is built around a local, transparent supply chain: the majority of produce comes from The Community Farm in Chew Magna and Strode Valley Organics within roughly 10 miles of Bristol, supplemented by specialty suppliers including Bristol Shoots (vertical-farmed microgreens) and The Bristol Fungarium (organic mushrooms). Operational discipline is evidenced by less than 2% food waste from stock in FY2021, the lowest in five years. The company runs community-focused programs including the Streets to Kitchen campaign (which raised £10,000 for Square Food Foundation cookery training at St. Mungo's Recovery College), food waste partnerships with FoodCycle and Too Good To Go, and a Heart of BS13 frozen meal stocking arrangement.

Better Food makes money through in-store grocery sales and café food/beverage service, supported by the Bee Better loyalty scheme and a 10% newsletter signup discount. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The company is privately held and founder-owned, with 101-250 employees, no disclosed external funding, and no parent company or subsidiaries. Marketing is primarily content-led (blog, recipes, supplier features), email, and organic social on Instagram and Facebook. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and the company serves a fragmented base of Bristol-area health-conscious consumers rather than enterprise customers.

Name

Better Food

Legal name

Better Food

Website

https://betterfood.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Better Food is a Bristol-based organic food retailer and café operator founded in 1992, running four stores and three cafés that sell locally sourced organic produce, groceries, and health/bodycare items to Bristol-area health-conscious consumers and café diners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Organic Food Retail

NAICS

Supermarkets and Other Grocery Retailers (except Convenience Retailers) (44511), Fruit and Vegetable Retailers (44523), Limited-Service Restaurants (722513)

SIC

Retail-Food Stores (5400), Retail-Grocery Stores (5411), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Natural/Organic Supermarkets & Chains (CRAHAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Organic Produce & Farm Market Retail (CRAHAEAD), Gourmet & Fine Food Stores (CRAHAGAG)

Keywords

• Organic food retail
• Specialty grocery stores
• Organic cafe services
• Health food stores
• Local produce sourcing

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Organic Food Retail: Sale of organic, local, and ethically sourced food products through four retail stores in Bristol. Products include produce, health and bodycare items, and specialty foods from local suppliers.
2. Café/Food Service: Café operations at three store locations serving organic food and beverages. The cafés have received the first Organic Served Here award in England.
3. Community Programs: Fundraising initiatives including the Streets to Kitchen campaign which raised £10,000 for Square Food Foundation to deliver cookery training at St. Mungo's Recovery College.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Better Food operates four organic food retail stores and three cafés in Bristol, UK, selling certified organic fruit, vegetables, grocery items, and health and bodycare products sourced from local and ethical suppliers. The cafés serve organic food and beverages with 93% certified organic food content, making them the first in England to receive the Soil Association's Organic Served Here award. The company does not offer e-commerce or delivery, distributing solely through physical retail locations.

Product overview

Better Food is an organic food retailer and café operator based in Bristol, operating four retail stores and three cafés. The company offers a unified retail experience combining organic food shopping with on-site café services. Core offerings include organic produce, health and bodycare products, and an online recipe collection. The business operates a loyalty program called Bee Better and is committed to local, ethical, and organic sourcing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Better Food Organic Shops Four award-winning organic food retail stores in Bristol (St Werburghs, Whiteladies Road, Wapping Wharf, and Gloucester Road) selling organic fruit, vegetables, groceries, and specialty foods sourced from local and ethical suppliers.
• Better Food Cafés Three organic café locations in Bristol serving food and beverages made with 93% certified organic ingredients, with options for vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets. First cafés in England to receive the Soil Association's Organic Served Here award.
• Health and Bodycare Products

Quantifiable outcome

• Less than 2% food waste from stock (2021)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Heart of BS13minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Social enterprise working to improve physical and mental health outcomes in Hartcliffe and Withywood. Better Food works with them on food waste composting, and stocks their homemade frozen meals with £5.50 from each meal going to the charity.
• FoodCycleminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Weekly collection of fruit and vegetables that don't meet sale criteria, which FoodCycle turns into meals served in the community, supporting food waste reduction and community feeding.
• Bristol ShootsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Vertical farming operation founded by Alasdair in 2020, growing microgreens and shoots in a warehouse near Temple Meads station. Better Food was one of the first businesses to stock their products, which are now available across all stores.
• Too Good To GominorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2020Food waste app partnership allowing customers to purchase unsold café food at discounted prices through the Too Good To Go app, reducing food waste while offering value to customers.
• The Community FarmcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Most of Better Food's local produce comes from The Community Farm in Chew Magna, a community-owned social enterprise growing and selling organic food. Better Food has participated in the Adopt-a-Crop scheme and staff volunteer at the farm. The farm is described as their main fruit and vegetable supplier.
• St. Mungo's Recovery CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017St. Mungo's is a homelessness charity running a Recovery College in Bristol. Better Food partnered with Square Food Foundation to deliver cookery courses at the college through the Streets to Kitchen campaign, raising £10,000 to fund training for people affected by homelessness.
• Square Food FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017A local charity based in Knowle West teaching people to cook good food from scratch. Partnered with Better Food on the Streets to Kitchen campaign to deliver cookery training at St. Mungo's Recovery College, helping clients gain confidence and skills.
• Strode Valley OrganicsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal organic farm approximately 10 miles south of Bristol supplying produce to Better Food stores.
• The Bristol FungariumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganic mushroom cultivation operation located in Claverham (9.6 miles from Bristol), growing over 20 species of exotic and medicinal mushrooms including maitake, shiitake, lion's mane, and reishi.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Abel & Cole: UK online organic grocery retailer offering organic produce, meat, and pantry items with a sustainability positioning. Adjacent channel (DTC delivery rather than physical stores) but competes for the same organic-shopper wallet share.
• Riverford Organic Farmers: UK organic produce brand and box-delivery scheme with farm-shop operations. Comparable on organic sourcing and brand ethos; differs in primarily DTC delivery versus physical retail.
• Holland & Barrett: UK health and wellness retailer with a large high-street footprint, carrying organic, natural, and supplement ranges. Overlaps with Better Food on health-and-bodycare category and on health-conscious shopper segments, but at vastly greater scale.
• Whole Foods Market (UK): Premium organic and natural foods supermarket with UK stores, operated under Amazon. Competes for similar premium organic customers across assortment and prepared/café offerings, with broader scale and pricing power.

Direct peers

• Darts Farm: UK farm shop with on-site café, deli, and locally-sourced produce. Highly comparable integrated retail-café model built around local and sustainable sourcing.
• Daylesford Organic: UK organic farm shop operator with cafés and a strong locally-sourced, sustainability-led brand. Comparable integrated retail-plus-hospitality model and similar premium organic positioning.
• Planet Organic: UK-based chain of organic supermarkets with integrated cafés and prepared food. Direct competitor in the organic-grocer-with-café niche; comparable assortment, similar demographic, and similar small-footprint multi-store model.

Emerging players

• As Nature Intended: UK independent chain of health food and organic stores. Smaller-scale, multi-store competitor targeting similar organic- and natural-product shoppers with comparable assortment focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/betterfood
• Instagraminstagram.com/betterfoodco
• Xx.com/BetterFoodCo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Better Food