East of England Co-op secures Community Retailer of the Year and Best Use of Technology at the Retail Industry Awards

The East of England Co-op has won Community Retailer of the Year and Best Use of Technology at the Retail Industry Awards 2025.  

The Community Retailer of the Year Award recognises the retailer’s commitment to supporting over 700 charities and community projects across East of England through its four core community programmes: Community Cares Fund grants, Local Giving, Small Donations and In-branch Hosting.  

The regional retailer has contributed over £1 million through its community programmes and has recently released £115,000 to 32 local causes as part of its Community Cares Fund. The Community Cares Fund alone has helped support over 146,000 local people.  

The East of England Co-op has also had its pioneering work with Retail Insight recognised with the Retail Industry Award for Best Use of Technology. The technology uses cutting-edge AI to reduce food waste across its food business. This forward-thinking initiative has saved 1.8 million meals from going to landfill to-date and is helping the co-op achieve its ambitious goals on sustainability.  

Angela Carpenter, Community Support Lead for the East of England Co-op said: “It has been an honour to work with compassionate people from a variety of charities and community projects over the past 18 months through our community programmes. They have inspired and motivated me to work relentlessly hard to generate funding as well as enthusiasm to support their worthy causes.   

 “It was fantastic to accept the award and reflect on the effort that has been invested by our team to achieve the results that have secured this award. It’s a great feeling.” 

 Andy Rigby, Chief Executive Officer for the East of England Co-op said: “Our co-op is focussed on improving efficiency across the business in order to provide a better service to our members and customers. It has been wonderful to have our technological advances recognised as reducing food waste is an important goal for our business. I’m proud of everyone involved in this impressive project. 

“Community work also has a key role in our co-op. Many of our stores are based in the heart of communities and that is why we feel it is important to contribute to local charities and community projects. We want to give something back, and we know that many of our customers do as well.”