Cambridge City Foodbank

What Cambridge City Foodbank does

Cambridge City Foodbank is an independent UK-registered charity (Charity No: 1149883; UK Limited Company: 8175815) founded in 2012 and operating from Cambridge. It provides emergency food parcels to local individuals and families facing financial hardship, distributed through Foodbank Welcome Centres via a voucher-referral system administered by partner organisations such as social services, GPs, and community groups. The charity is a member of the Trussell Trust, the dominant UK food bank network, which provides brand infrastructure, operational standards, and a national referral framework.

The service portfolio extends beyond emergency food parcels into Fairbite Food Clubs, which offer choice-based affordable food alongside community connection and wider support, and a set of advisory tools including a Benefits Calculator, Energy Bill Support guidance, a Grants Search database, and an Advice Helpline aimed at addressing underlying causes of poverty. There is no commercial product, no mobile application, no public API, and no proprietary technology platform; the underlying "technology" is a volunteer-driven logistics model supplemented by a content website and basic online self-service tools.

The business model is entirely donation-based. The charity raises both in-kind food donations and financial donations from the public to keep shelves stocked and to fund operational costs. All services are provided free of charge to beneficiaries. The organisation employs 14 staff and operates exclusively within Cambridge, with no disclosed geographic expansion plans. Advocacy activity, notably the OurEssentials Campaign pushing for an Essentials Guarantee in Universal Credit, indicates a strategic intent to influence welfare policy alongside direct service delivery.

Name

Cambridge City Foodbank

Legal name

Cambridge City Foodbank

Website

https://cambridgecity.foodbank.org.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Cambridge City Foodbank is an independent UK charity, founded in 2012, that provides emergency food parcels and hardship advice to people in Cambridge experiencing financial crisis via Trussell Trust referral channels and local Foodbank Welcome Centres.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Bank and Emergency Food Assistance Services

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421), Community Food Services (624210), Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242), Emergency and Other Relief Services (62423)

SIC

Retail-Food Stores (5400)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Assistance & Food Banks (BPAGAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Assistance & Nutrition Relief (Emergency Feeding) (BPAGAAAD), Community-Owned / Nonprofit Grocery Stores (CRAHALAB)

Keywords

• Emergency food assistance
• Food bank services
• Charitable food distribution
• Community food support
• Food insecurity relief

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Food Donations: Relies on donations from the public to keep shelves stocked with food items for emergency food parcels
2. Financial Donations: Accepts money donations to help meet the need for emergency and affordable food, and provide practical support and guidance to people who are going without the essentials

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Cambridge City Foodbank provides free emergency food parcels to individuals and families facing food insecurity in the Cambridge area through a voucher referral system at its Foodbank Welcome Centres. It also operates Fairbite Food Clubs that offer affordable food choices alongside community connection, and supplies advisory services such as a Benefits Calculator, Energy Bill Support, Grants Search, and an Advice Helpline.

Product overview

Cambridge City Foodbank is a single-service charity offering emergency food provision rather than a platform product. The core offering consists of emergency food parcels distributed through Foodbank Welcome Centres and a voucher referral system. Additional services include Fairbite Food Clubs for affordable food access, along with advisory tools including a Benefits Calculator, Energy Bill Support, Grants Search, and an Advice Helpline. The organization is affiliated with the Trussell network of food banks across the UK.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fairbite Food Clubs: Fairbite Food Clubs provide choice of affordable food, connection to the community and wider support.

Products and services

• Emergency Food Parcels

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Trussell (Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCambridge City Foodbank is a member of the Trussell food bank network. Trussell provides support, resources and a network of food banks across the UK working towards the shared vision of ending the need for food banks.
• Referral OrganisationscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOrganisations that refer individuals and families to the food bank for emergency food support. People must obtain a food voucher from a referral partner to access emergency food.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Trussell Trust: National umbrella network of UK food banks of which Cambridge City Foodbank is a member. Operates the same voucher-based emergency food model across hundreds of affiliated food banks and provides the shared brand and infrastructure that directly enables Cambridge's operations.
• Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN): UK umbrella organization representing independent (non-Trussell) food banks. A comparable network-level peer representing an alternative affiliation model for UK food banks, providing benchmarking context for Cambridge City Foodbank's Trussell membership strategy.
• Mary's Meals: International charity providing school meals to children in low-income countries. Operates at much larger scale in a different geography, but is a comparable donor-funded food-aid model with similar advocacy and volunteer-driven operating ethos.

Direct peers

• FareShare: UK's largest charity fighting food poverty by redistributing surplus food to a network of charities and community groups. Operates a closely related food-aid mission with overlapping donor base and beneficiary populations, often supplying food to local food banks including Trussell affiliates.
• FoodCycle: UK charity combining surplus food with volunteer power to serve free community meals to people facing food poverty. Shares Cambridge City Foodbank's mission of addressing food insecurity through community-based food provision, with overlapping volunteer and donor audiences.
• The Bread and Butter Thing: UK charity providing affordable groceries via community membership hubs using surplus food. Closely comparable to Cambridge's Fairbite Food Clubs model, combining food rescue with affordable community food access.

Regional players

• The Felix Project: London-based food redistribution charity that rescues surplus food and delivers it to charities and schools. Closely comparable operating model (food rescue and redistribution to community organizations) but operates in a different geography, so does not directly compete with Cambridge City Foodbank.
• City Harvest London: London-based food rescue charity collecting surplus food from suppliers and distributing it to charities serving people in need. Comparable food-redistribution model to Cambridge City Foodbank's food sourcing and distribution approach, but operates in London only.

Emerging players

• Magic Breakfast: UK charity providing healthy breakfast food to schoolchildren. Shares the food-aid mission and reliance on donations, but targets a different beneficiary group (children in schools), making it a partial-overlap rather than direct competitor.
• Olio: UK food-sharing app connecting neighbours and local businesses to share surplus food. Adjacent to Cambridge City Foodbank's mission of reducing food waste and tackling food access, with partial overlap on community food redistribution but a fundamentally tech-enabled model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Cambridge City Foodbank