This article explores the absence of social enterprise responses to food insecurity in Australia. Continued growth in demand from chronically food insecure consumers and criticism of the dominant food bank model of gifted food support has led to the development of ‘community supermarkets’ that charge consumers for donated food in countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, but not in Australia. This research investigates barriers to the development of community supermarkets in Australia through in-depth interviews with senior staff within seven organizations involved in the food relief supply chain, as well as a pilot survey of 38 food insecure consumers. The results of this research are analyzed through the lens of ‘voluntary failure’ theory and highlight systemic barriers to the reach of social enterprise as a mechanism for addressing food insecurity.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	food insecurity, social enterprise, business models, voluntary failure, food banks, social entrepreneurship
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Policy and administration
Research Field:	Economic development policy
Objective Division:	Economic Framework
Objective Group:	Microeconomics
Objective Field:	Supply and demand
UTAS Author:	Wills, B (Dr Benjamin Wills)
ID Code:	117680
Year Published:	2017
Web of Science® Times Cited:	18
Deposited By:	Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture
Deposited On:	2017-06-23
Last Modified:	2018-05-22
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