Nominee Summary
Fair Feast is a social enterprise that processes deer from areas of extreme overpopulation and environmental damage into venison parcels for those in food scarcity. Fair Feast donations are funded by sales to the public with the slogan 'sales matched in food bank donations' so people can enact the social change they wish to see.
Overcoming Challenges
Fair Feast was developed in response to the challenge of an extremely overpopulated deer group (47/km2), which was causing severe environmental damage. We were advised that the cull required would be so extreme that a significant portion of the culled deer would have to be disposed of. Fair Feast enables us to create a zero-waste model by selling a portion of the deer and donating the surplus. We quickly identified that our main challenge would be community integration. We spent a year before opening, interviewing food bank managers and prominent members of the deer community to design our delivery model. By prioritising community feedback, we reached a level of trust where our largest food bank recipient bought a van to pick up venison from the larder weekly. A key reason we are successful is the ability of our excellent butcher, Kevin Lawson. Kevin was the Head Butcher at House of Bruar, and when he heard about the Fair Feast project, he came to join us as he is so passionate about food poverty. He wanted to create an excellent product that would maintain the same quality from sales to donations. The butchery skills required in running the larder were a significant challenge and we were lucky that the non-profit model has inspired and formed a great team.
Supporting the community
Fair Feast has donated two tonnes of venison in Perthshire in its first year. We are fully integrated with food banks and community larders to be reactive to their needs. We have a manager of a food bank on our board to give us that constant feedback. We produce burgers and sausages so venison can fit easily into pre-existing diets. We produce mince and stew packs with support around cooking information to encourage people to create larger family meals. We have found that our fresh venison offering is the most popular at food banks when ready meals are also on offer - people want the option of healthy and local food. We have also created large catering packs of mince and diced haunch to be used for community meals, which allows vulnerable people access to lean nutrient-dense hot meals. For those who don't have access to fridge/freezer facilities, we have collaborated with The Country Food Trust to create shelf-stable venison meals. We want to show that venison is for everybody and when accessible to everybody, it is loved by everybody. As Fair Feast is a non-profit, we donate minimal profit at the end of the year to our cause. This year, we are paying the rent for a local community larder. Long term, we are looking to develop our rural surplus distribution model and this year we are beginning to incorporate surplus milk. We want to elevate the diets of all Scottish People by coordinating the distribution of rural surplus.
Ethical and Environmental standards
Fair Feast holds a high ethical standard as it prioritises zero waste in a high-cull situation. We have a minimal carbon footprint as our deer are culled, skinned, butchered, packaged, and labelled onsite in our deer butchery unit. Our primary wholesale customer is five miles away from our site. We prioritise environmental impact by engaging renowned botanist Ben Averis to monitor our site in a five-year program. We look to demonstrate how the SSSI specially protected moorland is relieved of negative environmental pressure as deer are returned to an appropriate population density. Mr Averis invites the local community to fully-funded engagement days where members of our community can come onto the moorland with us and see the difference deer management makes with the identification of key species. Mr Averis' extensive reports are available on our website for the public and wider academic community to engage with. To promote our community days we speak at a range of Climate Cafes and Biodiversity Events.
