Good, Better, Best. Evolving the store format of a leading organic, local and ethical food supplier.

Local ethical foodie heroes, Better Food, first set up their independent organic, local and ethical food business 30 years ago, starting out supplying veg boxes in the city. Better Food, now with over 100 people passionate about food, health, the planet and its customers, has now opened its fourth store - a new 3,000 sq ft combined retail outlet and café-deli on Bristol’s lively Gloucester Road – the UK’s longest road of independent stores.

In its brief, Better Food asked the Phoenix Wharf team to create a contemporary, cost-effective scheme that made use of the brand’s daffodil yellow and green identity in its colourway. Part of the brief was not to make the new design too upmarket or to risk alienating the business’s long-established core clientele - the business has a very strong community element and many local people in Bristol are proud to associate themselves with it, with a pronounced sense of ownership.

The new outlet needed to incorporate three main areas – a deli, refill area (where shoppers bring their own containers to access a whole range of ingredients) and a retail warehouse area, as well as back-of-house space, a staff room and washrooms.