About CFE

In the spring of 2008, we put out the call for innovative examples of “community food

enterprises,” to build the case for local ownership of food business. We believe locally

owned food businesses can help more people access healthy, sustainably grown food and

strengthen local economies by fostering income, jobs, and resources within the community.

From the hundreds of submissions we received, the CFE team selected 24 enterprises—producers, processors, grocers, restaurants, training programs and other food-related businesses from the Americas, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe

Our report features profiles of each of these enterprises,  and analysis of their economic,

social and environmental impacts. Our research demonstrates how community food enterprises

have transformed factors that once stymied their performance and profitability – smaller

scale, modest ambition, limited local ownership, and high social standards – into powerful

competitive advantages vis-à-vis multinational food businesses. It also identifies several

critical ways CFEs provide invaluable tools for economic development and anti-poverty efforts

worldwide.

This project is the result of a partnership between the Wallace Center at Winrock

International and the Business Alliance for Local Living Communities (BALLE), and is funded

by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We invite you to

browse the site and learn more about each of the enterprises, review our findings, and join

this growing community of entrepreneurs, scholars, funders, practitioners, and organizers dedicated to creating stronger, more sustainable local economies.

Get started

• Browse the case studies
  
  
• Review the report findings
  
  
• Learn more about our CFE selection criteria and methodology
  
  
• Download the complete report
  
  
• Meet the CFE Team
  
  
• Sign up for project and website updates
  
  
• Spread the word about CFE