Practical information
Description
Timeline
Stakeholders
Strengths and offer
Urban logistics
Positive impacts
Needs
Logistical challenges
Practical information
What?
VRAC, meaning Vers un Réseau d’Achat en Commun, supports the development of shared purchasing groups for quality products — organic, local and ecological — at affordable prices. In Brussels, distributions take the form of temporary grocery points organised with local structures.
Who?
VRAC Brussels, residents and members of the purchasing groups, local structures hosting orders and distributions, producers and suppliers, neighbourhood association partners, and public and private funders.
Where?
Belgium: Charleroi and Brussels.
In Brussels: Forest, Ixelles, Marolles, Cureghem, Schaerbeek, Evere and Molenbeek. The Bizet point has closed.
When?
2013: VRAC is created in Lyon.
December 2014: first distributions.
2022: VRAC arrives in Brussels.
2024: publication of the first Brussels activity report covering two years of existence.
Contact
VRAC Brussels — vrac-bruxelles@vrac-asso.org
Laurence — coordination.
Adèle Funès — field project officer and advocacy officer, notably for the Marolles and Molenbeek — adele-bruxelles@vrac-asso.org
Stéphanie Demeestere — project officer for Forest, social grocery project and health promotion — stephanie-bruxelles@vrac-asso.org
Resources
bruxelles.vrac-asso.org; 2022–2024 activity report; “Join & Order” page; Good Food Brussels sheet; VRAC Brussels network / approach page; VRAC history.
Description
VRAC Brussels develops shared purchasing groups in working-class neighbourhoods, with the aim of making quality products accessible to people who are often kept away from them for economic, social, digital or practical reasons.
The project works along four axes: economic, social, health and environmental. It offers organic, local or ecological products at cost price, while also working on neighbourhood cohesion, health determinants, links with producers, packaging reduction and residents’ power to act.
For Palette, the interest of the project lies in its discreet but central logistics. VRAC does not operate as a permanent supermarket or as a home delivery service. Orders are mutualised, products are delivered upstream, stored in Forest in an adapted work enterprise, and then distributed monthly through temporary neighbourhood grocery points co-organised with local structures and members.
Timeline
2013
Creation of VRAC in Lyon.
December 2014
First distributions.
2016–today
Development of VRAC in many French cities.
2022
Arrival of VRAC in Brussels.
2022–2024
Brussels deployment in several neighbourhoods, with seven shared purchasing groups mentioned in the activity report.
2024
Publication of the first Brussels activity report covering two years of existence.
Stakeholders
Residents and members of the purchasing groups, who pre-order, bring their own containers and take part in the proper functioning of the temporary grocery points.
The VRAC Brussels team, which coordinates the groups, supplies, distributions, activities, workshops and links with partners.
Local host structures, which make neighbourhood-based order points, distributions and local anchoring possible.
Producers and suppliers in short supply chains, who provide the organic, local or ecological products.
Neighbourhood partners: associations, PCS, community centres and social structures that help make the project known and reach the relevant publics.
Main funders: Fondation 4 Wings, Brussels Environment and COCOF, along with other more occasional support.
The adapted work enterprise located in Forest, where VRAC stores its food products.
Strengths and offer
Shared purchasing groups in working-class neighbourhoods.
Monthly temporary neighbourhood grocery points.
Quality products, organic, local or ecological, often offered in bulk.
Cost-price sales, in order to reduce the final cost for households.
Reduced packaging through bulk products and the use of personal containers.
Proximity distribution, as close as possible to buyers.
Co-management of the grocery points with members and local structures.
Workshops and activities around eating well, links with producers and residents’ power to act.
A concrete tool for food democracy, connecting accessibility, health, short supply chains, participation and neighbourhood cohesion.
Urban logistics
How does it work?
Members pre-order the products and quantities they want, online, by phone or during physical permanence sessions. The ordered food products are delivered by truck drivers. VRAC’s stock is located in Forest, in an adapted work enterprise. Once a month, a temporary grocery point is organised in each neighbourhood: people bring their own containers, collect their products and help with the distribution.
Why is it interesting?
Because VRAC shows that proximity food logistics can be organised without a permanent shop in every neighbourhood. The model relies on mutualised orders, intermediate storage, temporary distribution and the support of local structures. The logistics may seem light, but it requires careful coordination: order-taking, digital and language accessibility, upstream delivery, storage, preparation, monthly distribution, animation and involvement of residents.
Which obstacles does it respond to?
Unequal access to quality food, high prices of sustainable products, distance from some food initiatives for precarious households, lack of adapted purchasing points in working-class neighbourhoods, excess packaging, social isolation, digital barriers, language barriers and the difficulty of making short supply chains exist in genuinely accessible formats.
Identified nodes / obstacles
Transport; intermediate storage; packaging; bulk; waste management; time; order-taking; digital accessibility; language barriers; regularity of distributions; involvement of members; progressive autonomy of purchasing groups; funding for human resources and operating costs.
Positive impacts
Environment — reduced packaging through bulk products, use of less polluting products from sustainable and local agriculture, and mutualisation of part of food purchasing.
Space — temporary use of existing neighbourhood spaces rather than creating permanent shops, with temporary grocery points adapted to local resources.
Neighbourhood — strengthening of neighbourhood cohesion through distributions, workshops, tastings, producer visits and collective activities.
Social relations — strong impact: member participation, mutual aid, power to act, links with local structures, and transformation of shopping into a collective moment.