Incredible Edible Leeds

What Incredible Edible Leeds does

Incredible Edible Leeds is a volunteer-led Community Interest Company (CIC) founded in 2019 in Garforth, east Leeds, that creates community food-growing and rewilding infrastructure across 20+ areas of Leeds and northern England. Its core programs include Edible Places (public edible beds in parks, train stations, schools, and community centres, freely accessible to all), Edible Schools (curriculum-linked growing and cooking in primary and secondary schools), Edible Stations (a partnership with Northern Trains placing beds at stations including Bramley, Castleford, Cross Gates, Garforth, Micklefield, and New Pudsey), Rewilding (custodianship of the Garforth Community Wildlife Area), and an Art Program producing community murals. Supporting resources include 20+ online growing guides and community recipes. Technology is limited to a content/WordPress-style website, social media channels, and a donation page via Open Collective; there is no proprietary software platform.

The organisation is funded by a diversified base of grants and donations from National Lottery, Leeds City Council, Grow Wild (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), Localgiving's Magic Little Grants, Coop Local Causes, Tesco Community Grants, Leeds Community Foundation, Persimmon Homes, Morley Glass, Banks Group, Garforth Lions, Arnold Clark, Thornton Jones, and others, with the only commercial revenue stream being paid corporate volunteering sessions from £24.95 per person. Its customer base spans three primary segments: the general public of Leeds who access free produce from the edible beds, schools using Edible Schools for food education and awards (including RHS and Eco-Schools green flag), and corporate organisations purchasing team-building volunteering days. The five-person core team consists of Dan Robinson (Team Lead), Jenny, Steph Varley, Holly Arden, and Lianne Marie (Marketing Consultant), supported by an unpaid volunteer base. The organisation holds the Volunteering Quality Mark Level 1 from Leeds City Council and Voluntary Action Leeds, and aligns itself with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Name

Incredible Edible Leeds

Legal name

Incredible Edible Leeds

Website

https://edibleleeds.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Incredible Edible Leeds is a volunteer-led Community Interest Company that runs publicly accessible edible beds, school gardens, and rewilding projects across 20+ areas of Leeds and select Northern England train stations, serving local residents, schools, and corporate volunteers with free food and growing education.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Leeds

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations: The organization accepts donations through its Open Collective page to support day-to-day costs of maintaining communal beds and wildlife areas, enabling more people to access free food and education.
2. Corporate Volunteering: Corporate groups can pay to participate in half-day or full-day volunteering sessions with Incredible Edible groups. Prices start from £24.95 per person. Revenue covers operational costs and funds a paid project worker.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Incredible Edible Leeds is a volunteer-led Community Interest Company that creates and maintains publicly accessible edible gardens across more than twenty areas of Leeds. Its core offering is the free provision of community-grown fruit, vegetables, and herbs through public edible beds, supplemented by school gardening programmes, train-station food gardens via a Northern Trains partnership, a community wildlife rewilding project, and paid corporate volunteering sessions that fund operations.

Product overview

Incredible Edible Leeds is a community interest company creating kind, confident, and connected communities through the power of food. The organization operates a portfolio of interconnected programs: Edible Places maintains public growing beds across 20+ Leeds areas; Edible Schools partners with educational institutions; Edible Stations brings food gardens to train stations via Northern Trains; Rewilding manages community wildlife areas; and the Art Program creates community murals. Supporting resources include Growing Guides (educational plant-growing instructions) and Recipes (community cooking content). Volunteer and Corporate Volunteering services engage individuals and organizations. The organization launched as a CIC in 2022 and aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Edible Places Public edible beds distributed across more than twenty areas of Leeds that provide free, healthy, and sustainable food to local communities. Beds are placed in neighbourhoods, parks, community centres, and public spaces for anyone to pick produce.
• Edible Schools

Quantifiable outcome

• Over twenty areas of Leeds supported with Incredible Edible projects as of 2026.
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Northern TrainscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Northern Trains to establish the Edible Stations project. Fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs are placed at train stations across the north of England, brightening up stations and reconnecting passengers with nature and food sources. Beds are located at Bramley, Castleford, Cross Gates, Garforth, Micklefield, and New Pudsey stations.
• Leeds City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeeds City Council is listed as a key supporter. The council's Housing department owns land at the Garforth Community Wildlife Area. Leeds City Council has partnered on multiple initiatives including the Volunteering Quality Mark and housing advisory panels.
• Voluntary Action LeedscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVoluntary Action Leeds partnered with Leeds City Council to recognise Incredible Edible Leeds with the Volunteering Quality Mark Level 1, confirming high quality volunteer experience.
• Garforth in BloomcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGarforth in Bloom is a key local partner. Their prior custodianship of the Garforth Community Wildlife Area predates Incredible Edible's involvement, and the transition of custodianship to Incredible Edible built on existing community greening work.
• Incredible Edible National NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIncredible Edible Leeds is part of the Incredible Edible national network (incredibleedible.org.uk/find-a-group/). This provides brand affiliation, peer support from other local groups, and a shared mission framework.
• Eden Project CommunitiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a supporter, providing community development support and connections to the Eden Project's community networks.
• Leeds InspiredminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeeds Inspired supports arts and cultural projects in Leeds. Listed as a supporter of Incredible Edible Leeds.
• Emsleys SolicitorsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmsleys Solicitors in Garforth hosts the 2020 mural commissioned by Incredible Edible Leeds, created by local artists Penny Rowe and Angela Hennessy.
• Garforth & Swillington IndependentsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGarforth & Swillington Independents listed as a community supporter of Incredible Edible Leeds.
• Fast SignsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFast Signs listed as a supporter providing signage support for Incredible Edible Leeds locations.
• Becky from Season WellminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBecky from Season Well (seasonwell.co.uk) provided live cooking demonstrations as part of Yorkshire Sustainability Festival, sharing recipes using community-grown produce.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Growing Communities: Hackney-based social enterprise running community-led urban agriculture, farmers' markets and a salad-growing scheme. Highly comparable mission and stakeholder mix (volunteers, schools, local residents) to Incredible Edible Leeds.
• Capital Growth: London-based community food-growing network run by Sustain with 2,000+ growing spaces across the capital. Directly comparable community-gardening model focused on food access, training and volunteer mobilisation, just at a larger urban scale.
• Incredible Edible (national network / Todmorden group): The original Incredible Edible network of which Incredible Edible Leeds is the Leeds chapter; identical mission of community food growing, local volunteer beds, and food education. Closest direct comparable in activity and brand affiliation.

Broad incumbents

• Sustain: UK alliance of food and farming charities advocating better food policy and supporting grassroots food initiatives including Capital Growth. Comparable food-system mission but policy/advocacy-led rather than bed-operating.
• Royal Horticultural Society (RHS): Major UK gardening charity running community gardening, school gardening and Eden Project-linked programmes. Overlapping mission on food education and community growing, but operating at national scale with broad horticultural remit.
• Social Farms & Gardens (formerly Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens): UK umbrella body supporting city farms and community gardens. Comparable sector but operates as an industry support network rather than delivering community food-growing programmes itself.

Emerging players

• The Food Foundation: UK food-policy think tank focused on food poverty, healthy eating and sustainable food systems. Thematically aligned with Incredible Edible Leeds' community food access and education goals, but operates in research/advocacy rather than direct delivery.

Others

• TCV (The Conservation Volunteers): UK-wide volunteering charity focused on environmental conservation and green-space improvement. Comparable volunteer mobilisation and corporate volunteering mechanic, but centered on conservation rather than community food growing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/IncEdLeeds
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/edibleleeds
• Instagraminstagram.com/incredibleedibleleeds

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 Incredible Edible Leeds