Au Local, a group-buying place to access quality products!

Context

The Teisseire-Abbaye Jouhaux-Chatelet-Malherbe district has 6,410 inhabitants and was classified as a priority district of the city of Grenoble in 2014. The priority districts were identified according to a single criterion, that of income per inhabitant (1000 people with resources  lower than 60% of median income). Financial insecurity often rhymes with food insecurity and health problems (obesity, diabetes, etc.): the available food supply is often of lower quality and financial restrictions limit access to certain products such as fruits and vegetables.

Au Local business was created in 2018 by two Grenoble entrepreneurs, who wanted to make quality food accessible to all. The objective is in particular to give the inhabitants of the Abbaye-Teisseire-Malherbe districts "the keys to consuming differently", and thus create a bulwark against "junk food".

Project

The project leaders adjust the list of products available with suppliers. They then send this list by mail to those registered one week before distribution. Consumers then have 4 days (Friday to Monday) to order by email. The products offered come directly from local producers: fruit, vegetables, animal products, drinks and groceries.

Au Local takes care of gathering all the products ordered, and collects the baskets from two different distribution points every Friday: in the Malherbe district, between 2.30 pm and 7 pm, at 14 avenue Malherbe; in the Villeneuve district, between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm, at the Café Le Barathym, Patio de la Villeneuve, 97 galerie de l'Arlequin; and by delivery with Sicklo, between 4 pm and 6 pm, at your home or workplace.

The objective of group ordering is to reduce logistics costs and allow those with small budgets to order small quantities while benefiting from quality products. The prices are attractive for consumers and also for producers, since there is only one intermediary : Au Local. Each consumer composes their basket order according to their desires. No membership is required, thus offering the consumer greater flexibility.  

Project leaders

The project is led by Adeline Anglaret and Ingrid Joubert, 2 entrepreneurs. Producer suppliers are located at a maximum of 100 km from Grenoble and cultivate organically, but also in reasoned agriculture *. So there is something for all budgets.

Adeline and Ingrid won the “I’m creating my company” prize in the Grenoble Alpes Métropole business creation ideas competition, which gave them the means to set up their project.

Au Local works with about fifty producers and records about 200 orders per week. The company has four employees (including the two co-founders, Adeline and Ingrid), not to mention the volunteer cooperators. Every Friday, two young people from the neighbourhood, hired by Chantiers Jeunes Synergie, come to work on the weighing

*Reasoned agriculture is an approach in France that applies to agricultural production taking into account environmental protection, health and animal welfare. The central principle of sustainable agriculture is to optimize the economic result by controlling the quantities of chemical inputs used.

The Little Extra

Au Local organizes cooking workshops to teach everyone how to cook with seasonal products and on a moderate budget. Farm visits to participating producers are also set up to create a link between supplier and consumer, and workshops around short circuits are organized at The Barathym. Adeline and Ingrid are also involved in Grenoble life, in particular through the Calisoli network, a collective of social food players in Isère, inaugurated on October 3, 2019.

Au Local obtained the status of SCIC SA, a cooperative company of collective interest, in June 2020. This status allows all associated actors (consumers, producers, employees, local authorities and partner companies) to participate in the cooperative's orientations in a democratic manner. To date, Au Local has 67 members.

The Au Local cooperative wishes to establish a link with the neighbourhood's associative life, and thus proposes actions in collaboration with other associations, including the Teisseire-Malherbe residents' centre (MDH) and the Patio.

The Partners

Written by Camille Millot, LFC volunteer - September 2019. Updated by Magda Salvatore - May 2021

Last modification : 12 May 2021.