Supporting local families for two decades
THE SGF Healthy Living Programme (HLP) has celebrated 20 years of working alongside retailers to better support their local communities.
Fully funded by the Scottish Government since 2004, the HLP team has worked with over 2,300 convenience retailers across Scotland to help advise on growing sales of healthier products in stores and helped them to feed youngsters in their local areas.
Teaming up with the local retailers, the HLP team has run a plethora of ‘Welby Breakfast’ events in primary schools across the length and breadth of the country, supporting kids to start their days with a healthy breakfast and introduce their families to local convenience retailers in the area.
To mark the success of the previous 20 years, programme director Kathryn Neil addressed delegates at the Scottish Grocers’ Federation’s (SGF) conference on 2 October to mark the anniversary and discuss the success of the programme.
Neil said: “This anniversary is a major milestone for HLP and the whole team and is well worth celebrating.
“Over 20 years, the SGF and HLP have created a programme that works for every store, and the branding is now a key fixture in many new or refitted shops.
“Community engagement has been the key to success, ensuring the programme remains relevant and maintains relationships with key fascia groups while also helping to deliver the ‘responsible retailing’ message.
“HLP would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the last 20 years of their journey and here’s to the next 20!”
Over the course of these 20 years, the HLP branding has come to be a familiar sight across Scotland’s c-stores as research conducted by the programme found that 40% of shoppers can now identify the HLP branding in stores.
This year alone has seen the HLP work with a range of businesses to support families across Scotland including, most recently, Snappy Shopper to help deliver free bananas to consumers doorsteps throughout the month of August.
Further to this, the group has worked alongside Weetabix at many of its Welby Breakfast events and has journeyed across Scotland in doing so, visiting 19 stores across the Hebrides earlier this year.
Jenni Minto, Scottish minister for public health, said: “I am very pleased to see the Healthy Living Programme promote a wide range of healthier food and drink and I commend the staff for the passion they have demonstrated in developing the programme – from its Big Breakfast events in schools, to its engagement with island communities.”
