More than 4,500 FMCG colleagues from throughout the trade returned to Barcode Festival at Magazine, London on the 7th July, to support GroceryAid and raise a record-breaking amount of over £900,000 for the industry charity.
Barcode is the industry’s only music, food and drink festival, allowing over 200 FMCG companies to reward and recognise colleagues, network with customers, plus raise awareness and money for GroceryAid.
Barcoders were able to enjoy complimentary food, drink and giveaways from over 80 sponsors. Supporters created incredible activations throughout the showground with a range of drinks bars and food stands. The entertainment included live performances from Steps, Tinie Tempah, Bastille, BBC Radio One DJs Rickie and Melvin and rugby legend James Haskell with his Ibiza DJ set.
At the festival, Grocery Trader caught up with Steve Barnes, Chief Executive of GroceryAid, to talk about the vital work the charity does.
Can you tell us what the Barcode festival is?
Barcode exists to raise money for the GroceryAid charity, to raise money for colleagues in the industry who need our help. It’s a fundraising event with a difference. It was always intended as an egalitarian thing so that anybody in the industry would feel comfortable attending, whether they were leading a company or doing important jobs in factories, stores, warehouses, depots, driving trucks. So everybody has the same experience. It brings the industry together, to have that shared experience. Also, I wanted something that was future-proof, something that younger colleagues feel an affinity to, and I think the festival delivers that. We are now in Barcode year 4. We have had 4 years of growth but a number of colleagues have come every time we have run Barcode. They are starting to develop that strong affinity to this as their generation’s event. That puts us in a good stead because no doubt many of those individuals will end up leading companies in the trade and will want to support it so we will have a very strong platform on which to build.
How many people are you expecting to attend this year?
I think we will have about 5,000. So it’s a big number. Hundreds of companies are sending colleagues and 84 are actively supporting it. There is lots of sponsorship. We have sold out sponsorship. We have slightly expanded the site this year so we will have more capacity and we have greatly improved the toilets. It was about 3,500 last year but we had 2,500 before Covid so it is significantly up. We spent a lot of time trying to plan for all sorts of contingencies but at some point during the day there was 5,000 people on site. It’s a very, very busy day.
What was the total amount raised at Barcode last year?
It was around £900,000. We are not driven by totals as such. It would be nice to get to the iconic million but we couldn’t justify increasing prices to do that. If we get there next year, we get there but the most important thing is affordable for companies to send colleagues to. I’m not sure we will get to a million.
What is GroceryAid currently doing to help people in the industry?
We have been on a very smooth trajectory in terms of the colleagues we help, in a variety of ways. Last year there was a 61% increase in the number of incidents we gave support to. There was a massive increase in the number of colleagues financially helped. We offered the School Essentials Grant last year and have just done the same thing this year. We spent over £600,000 on the School Essentials Grant in June and July so that means 4,000 children of grocery colleagues will go to school properly equipped otherwise they might not have done so. We did the Winter Heating Grant in January to help families with the cost of living crisis, with their fuel bills. Underlying that, the number of colleagues we helped increases significantly every month.
Why is the number of colleagues you are helping increasing? Is it because of the cost of living crisis?
No, I don’t think its to do with the cost of living crisis. I think it’s a bit around the edges. More importantly the companies with whom we work have done a significantly better job of raising awareness amongst their own workforce. They appreciate the support we can give. So I don’t think there has been an exponential increase in crises engulfing the 4 million people in the grocery industry but there has been an exponential crisis in the number of colleagues who are aware that there is a charity out there that can support them. That is a great credit to the trade in which we work.
Do they need help from you in letting their colleagues know the charity exists?
We have a number of mechanics we use to engage organisations. Some organisations are more wary of what this might entail raising awareness of another organisation amongst their colleagues. I always say to organisations that we go with the grain. However you communicate with your colleagues, we will do what you want us to do. If it’s posters, videos, vox pops, town halls, staff conferences, however you communicate with your raise awareness within your organisation using the assets we provide. We dovetail with you, you don’t have to do anything. We make it as easy as possible.
Who do you work with in the industry – multiple retailers, discounters, etc?
Anyone who reaches out. Wholesalers are doing a great job in reaching out. They will be even stronger next year. We could always do more. A lot of wholesalers attended Barcode so they learned about GrocerAid. There were some wholesalers that we don’t work with at all that I noticed on the list. We are very engaged with the big ones like Booker and Bestway. We work with the buying groups, they are committed to help us raise awareness. It’s a bigger job. I wouldn’t say it is easier with a multiple retailer but they control the method of communication. Wholesalers have a dual role. It is about raising awareness among their own colleagues, which is a job in itself. But then we would really like them to help us raise awareness among their trade customers, who we can also help. If they can make their trade customers aware there is a charity to support them, there will always be a feeling of gratitude from those customers to us but also to the wholesaler that alerted them to our presence.
Presumably, a lot of independent retailers would only know about GroceryAid from a trade press advert?
Yes. I am realistic about this. We need to be making people aware of us at exactly the point in time in which you are facing a crisis. Otherwise, it’s just wallpaper. If you hear about GroceryAid when you are not facing a crisis, you will forget about it because you have got a delivery to get out. So we really have to over-communicate to reach the individuals facing a crisis. That is why I think we have done an exceptional job. There is always more we can do.
Can you tell us more about the School Essentials Grant?
The School Essentials Grant was £150,000 for dependent children of grocery colleagues who qualified for that. It was a light touch, simple application. Unfortunately, we were only able to keep it open for 24 hours, such was the level of demand. We helped over 2,000 families. We spent over £600,000 so it was a significant amount of money. We did it last year and put in £550,000, I think this year we put in £630,000. Whether we do it again depends on the fundraising and whether we have the space to do that. Obviously in an ideal world we would absolutely love to do that. But we also continue to look at what opportunities are available to support colleagues in similar ways. We did the winter heating grant in January and will see if we can do that again.
What are the biggest challenges GroceryAid faces?
We are not going to be immune to the cost of living crisis, that’s for sure. So many organisations are having to watch every penny. We are trying to get support from organisations that are having to budget very carefully. I don’t think we are immune on the fundraising side. On the other side, we have got more colleagues likely to need help. Inflation works in the same way. If a beneficiary had a problem three years ago, it’s going to be a worse problem now. We are having to reward more money to solve the same problems. But we can do it. Our society and industry faces big challenges and we are part of the industry and society, facing those same challenges. But we have still got momentum, growth and opportunity so I am pretty confident we will overcome the challenges and carry on growing.
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