Chicken Shop

Partner: Create

    The Challenge

    Infographic: The prevalence and impact of chicken shops

      Research: The role of chicken shops in youth culture

    There is a lack of healthy food options in low income areas, where outlets selling high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar fast food dominate. The borough of Newham, for example, has 258 hot-food takeaways. All secondary schools are within 500m of at least one. These obesogenic environments are a major contributor to poor diets, affecting young people’s health, wellbeing and performance at school.

    In addition to their negative effect on health, fast food outlets, particularly fried chicken shops, are contributing to a number of other issues locally and nationally including poor animal welfare, non-socially responsible business models, litter and anti-social behaviour.

    Traditional approaches

    A number of different approaches have been attempted in order to tackle youth obesity including physical activity campaigns – crucial for general health, but an ineffective solution when the number of calories consumed by young people make it prohibitively difficult to burn off with activity alone, school dinner campaigns – but just 15% of the food school-age children eat is from school canteens, and marketing campaigns, for example Change4Life, encouraging us all to live healthier lifestyles – all very well in theory, but much harder in practice when living in obesogenic environments.

    Research

    We are carrying out in-depth research into the issues of youth obesity, chicken shops and urban culture. This includes desk research collating information on the subject and interviews, workshops and surveys with stakeholders:

    Young people and people working with young people

    • St Bonaventure’s and St Angela’s Ursuline school, Forest Gate, Forest Gate Community school, Forest Gate
    • Newham Youth Council
    • Youth workers at Community Links
    • A New Direction
    • Living Wage Foundation

    Restaurants and food experts

    Local and national government

    We have also undertaken observational studies at three fried chicken shops in Forest Gate, Newham, gathering data on customer demographic, ordering patterns, eating patterns, spending patterns, and any littering or anti-social behaviour incidents over a one week period.

    Photography: Finn Taylor (This artwork is available for public use provided it is used in the context of our work and credits the photographer)

    Statistics

    More than 1 in 3 children aged 11–15 years are overweight or obese.
    Millennium Cohort Study, 2007

    Obesity levels have tripled in 15 year-olds over the last ten years.
    Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, March 2010

    If no action is taken 25% of children will be obese by 2050.
    Government-commissioned Foresight Report, 2007

    Newham has the 5th highest levels of obesity in London amongst Year 6 students.
    (25.6% in Newham, national average 19.2%)
    National Child Measurement Programme, 2011/12

    Newham has the highest prevalence of diabetes of all London boroughs
    Clinical Effectiveness Group, 2011

    In Newham, 200 children aged 16 or under diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (related to obesity) formally known as late onset diabetes
    LB Newham/NHS Newham 2009

    School meals make up just 15% of meals school age kids eat
    Public Health, Newham

    There are now more than 8,000 fast food outlets in the capital alone – one for every 1,000 Londoners, a number increasing around 10% every year.
    London Gov Website, 2012, Local Data Company, 2009

    Chicken shops are particularly common – fried chicken sales grew by 36% from 2003 to 2008 and the market continues to grow.
    Local Data Company, 2009

    There are 258 hot food takeaway outlets in Newham, 28% are fried chicken shops.
    Food Outlet Mapping in the London Borough of Newham, 2010

    38% of 13–14 year olds eat fast food about once a week, 12% everyday.
    Youth Survey, London Borough of Newham, 2010

    All secondary schools are within 500m of at least one takeaway.
    Food Outlet Mapping in the London Borough of Newham, 2010

    “Most Sixthformers prefer to make use of their new-found liberty and eat out rather than eat lunch in the school canteen or bring packed lunch.”
    Mr Rahman, tutor at St Bonaventures and St Angelas School, Forest Gate

    An average meal at a fried chicken shop contains 62% RDA kcal, 45% RDA saturated fats and 86% RDA salt.
    KFC website

    In 2008 the fried chicken market was estimated to be worth £15bn-£20bn.
    Mintel

    The number of outlets of KFC increased from 760 to 850 from 2010 to 2013. The average KFC outlet now serves about 4,000 customers a week. Nationally KFC sells over 47 million chickens a year.
    KFC data

    Independent shops now represent four fifths of the fast food market.
    Allegra, 2009

    The Solution

    Providing some healthy competition to fast food

    We are supporting street food traders to serve healthy, affordable food near schools in areas dominated by unhealthy food options.

    After a successful pilot in October 2013 in Forest Gate, Newham, in September this year we are expanding the project to work with more vendors serving tasty food that meets Department of Health nutritional guidelines at locally competitive prices, through designated pitches located near secondary schools and large numbers of fast food outlets. All vendors will receive sustainability training via the Sustainable Restaurant Association and we will offer eight-week training schemes via Create Jobs to local unemployed young people, giving experience running catering businesses and a City & Guilds qualification.

    This approach of introducing healthy, sustainable, responsible food businesses in close proximity to schools complements existing work by local councils to remove negative food choices from the 200 metre exclusion zones surrounding the school gate.

    In our four week pilot ‘Box Chicken’ in Forest Gate, October 2013 we worked with street-food caterer Giles Smith, to create a menu and brand identity that would appeal to young people. It was:

    • Healthy – Compared to a meal at KFC, our meals contained a tenth of saturated fat, a fifth of the salt, half the calories, and an extra 2.5 portions of fruit/vegetables.
    • Cheap – Snacks were £1.50, meals £2.50 for young people; £3.50 for adults.
    • Popular – 1,362 portions sold, 383 to students. These tended to replace unhealthy fast food rather than school meals.
    • Sustainable – Using recycled packaging, a mix of RSPCA Freedom Food Standard and Halal-sourced meat, local suppliers and contributed no litter locally.
    • Providing training to two unemployed people.

    Box Chicken was commissioned by Create London and is funded by the Arts Council London and the Legacy Trust UK.

    As we launch this new phase, we will explore how we can establish financially sustainable local businesses on each pitch so they have a permanent presence in their local communities and how we might develop a central support service that allows us to set up more pitches in more London boroughs, spreading healthy fast food across the capital.

    Are you a local council?

    We are currently looking for new pitches and are keen to hear from London Borough councils who are interested in joining the four councils already on board who are working with us to shift the food options available on their streets.

    Are you a street food vendor?

    We are now recruiting vendors to take part in this project and are keen to hear from anyone who is interested in getting involved. Read the brief and apply here.

    Other potential partners

    We are keen to speak to potential partners and funders who are interested in our work. Please contact [email protected]

    Impact

    Evaluation report: Providing some healthy competition to fast food outlets

     Summary findings from the evaluation of the pilot:

    • Compared to an original recipe meal at KFC, a Box Chicken meal and 200ml of orange juice has 707 fewer calories (60% fewer), 85% less fat, 85% less saturated fat, 70% less salt, and 20% less sugar.
    • Despite being so much healthier, it was popular with young people: in our four weeks of trading we sold 1362 portions of Box Chicken, over a quarter of which were sold to young people. 95% of the students we interviewed who had tasted Box Chicken agreed that the food was tasty, 76% agreed that Box Chicken was good value for money, and 90% wanted Box Chicken to continue trading in Forest Gate.
    • The pilot, while short, also suggested that there was potential for the development of a financially sustainable business model.

     

    Coverage

     

    Quotes

    Some local government money is being spent on healthy-eating education programmes but those tend to be exercises in preaching to the converted… Compared to that the Box Chicken project starts to look like the only practical effort to do something.

    Jay Rayner, The Observer

    Rather than restricting takeaway food we should seek to transform it, by making healthy food as visible, tasty, and cheap as unhealthy food.

    Fiona Godlee, editor in chief, British Medical Journal

    As both a school and a 6th form centre, we have for many years realised how vitally important diet is for the current generation of teenagers. We welcome the project and look forward to it being a powerful way of changing our students’ eating behaviour. We know how the nature of their future lives will be, quite literally, dictated by what they eat.

    Fidelma Boyd, Deputy Headteacher, St Angela’s Ursuline School, Newham

    This is an excellent opportunity to improve both the quality of food establishments on our high streets and more importantly the diets of our young people. Healthy eating in schools has made a difference but the state cannot control what young people are eating once they leave the school gate and we need to recognise that there are reasons that young people visit these establishments. I fully support this innovative project and hope that stakeholders are able to embrace and support it as well.

    Councillor David Christie, Community Lead Councillor for Forest Gate, Newham, East London

    I think that it is important to have something different and unique in Newham, it would be great for this to be the new craze amongst teens in the borough. To compete with a real chicken and chip shop will definitely be a challenge. I can’t wait to try it out.

    Rebekah Dike, Young Mayor of Newham

    Each and every day there seems to be a new chicken and chip shop popping up somewhere in the Borough of Newham, not only are they accessible, cheap and fast they are also desperately unhealthy. What We Are What We Do are looking to achieve with their healthy fast food shop is a wonderful idea, if they are able to produce cheap, healthy alternatives to chicken and chips, and at the same time offer employability opportunities through volunteering and apprenticeships for me it’s a win-win situation. I look forward to seeing the idea materialise, and I have no doubt that it will flourish here in Newham.

    Dominic Mundy, Youth Representation Officer, Mayor’s Office

    Council Planning and regeneration policy has an ambition to promote healthy communities in the borough. One of the strands of this is to enable healthy food choices. This project is welcome in principle in having the goal to provide outlets in the hot food takeaway market that expand choice and encourage healthy eating. The element of training and employment embedded in the project address strategic objectives of the Council and regeneration of the borough and are therefore supported.

    Deidra Armsby, Head of Strategy and Investment, London Borough of Newham, East London

    Cooking the type of food that I do, I can make a difference and help others have a healthy diet without their full knowledge. If you can make this kind of food cool to kids you will have a lot more people eating healthy meal and I’m really excited by this challenge.

    Giles Smith, Box Chicken’s catering partner

    Stand on the average London high street and you’d be hard pushed not to find a fast food shop, but with the frightening statistics for youth obesity in deprived urban London, something needs to be done. Rather than patronise or preach, we’ve taken a novel approach to tackling this issue,
    putting the children and young people of Forest Gate, Newham at the heart of our pilot solution. Will Box Chicken present a viable solution to youth obesity for roll-out across London? The children and young people of Forest Gate will be the judge.”

    Nick Stanhope, CEO, We Are What We Do

    Create London aims to commission engaging projects that address the social and cultural issues of east London, an area that, despite being the creative capital of Europe, still sees widespread deprivation across its Boroughs. Box Chicken, informed by consultation, engagement and interaction with the children and young people it’s designed to reach presents a new model for engineering social change, one based on collaboration, engagement and creative-thinking

    Hadrian Garrard, Director of Create London

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