How Nornir is reshaping food support and rehabilitation in Greater Manchester

A pioneering social enterprise is empowering people on probation to become essential workers in Greater Manchester’s food economy. Through community growing spaces and partnerships with affordable food retailers, Nornir is creating sustainable solutions to food poverty while opening up routes back into work for ex-offenders.

For Stockport-based social enterprise Nornir, tackling food poverty starts with addressing what Co-Director Dave Nicholson calls ‘power poverty’ – the lack of control over what you eat, how you eat, or whether your kids go to school hungry. “If you’re not in control of that,” he says, “then you’re not in control of anything.”

That belief is what sparked Nornir’s innovative approach: giving people access to good, healthy meals they can rely on, and involving others who know what it’s like to go without in making it happen. It’s a practical model in which Community Payback teams grow ingredients and help prepare nutritious, ready-to-eat meals, which are delivered to pantries and food clubs in Greater Manchester.

“The main challenge for austerity food retail [for example, community pantries and social supermarkets] is actually getting in regular quality supplies,” Dave explains. “They’re almost 100% reliant on surplus produce, the excess stock from supermarkets and suppliers that would otherwise go to waste, and this can vary massively in quality and quantity. A lot of what’s left is unhealthy, ultra-processed stuff. What we’re aiming to do is to get them regular supplies of quality, healthy, nutritious ready meals, produced locally by people on probation.”

Partnering with Greater Manchester Probation and Stockport Homes, Nornir’s pilot project kicked off with £10,000 funding and saw Community Payback teams growing fresh fruit and vegetables on underused land in Stockport. The produce was donated to local austerity retailers such as Your Local Pantry, which supports people in food poverty through affordable food memberships.

A smarter substitute for meat

The model has since evolved. Surveys of pantry users showed that many people preferred ready meals, but the meals currently available through food banks or surplus schemes are often high in salt, fat and sugar. “We realised pretty quickly that just handing over veg wasn’t going to work,” Dave says. “People in food poverty might not have a cooker, or confidence in the kitchen. What they need is food that’s ready to eat – healthy, convenient meals they actually want, at a price they can afford, and without relying on cheap, unsustainable meat.”

So thanks to partners FungALL, Nornir found a solution in the shape of mushrooms, a low-cost meat substitute that have become a key ingredient in the plant-based ready meals the Community Payback teams now prepare. Or, as Dave jokes, “Mushrooms are mushrooming. They’re nutritious, versatile, and a perfect fit. We’re making ready meals that are good for people and good for the planet. And we’re doing it in a way no one else in Greater Manchester – or the UK, as far as we know – is doing.

“It’s quite common to find people on probation working on community allotments, but those projects don’t put everything together; like, growing the ingredients, cooking the meals, supplying austerity food retail, and even offering people the chance to learn retail skills in the pantries. There’s no one else doing it like we do.”

Weaving new futures – and scaling up

Even the name reflects the organisation’s unique ethos. “In Norse mythology, the Nornir are three weavers of fate who shape the lives of gods and mortals,” Dave explains. “We liked the idea of weaving new futures, not just for individuals on probation but for whole communities. It’s a bit whimsical, but it stuck.”

With additional funding of £60,000, Nornir is scaling up its model across Greater Manchester, adding new growing hubs in Stockport, Trafford and Manchester, a partnership with Eat Well Manchester enabling the food to be frozen and distributed further afield.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the Innovation Fund. “It’s as simple as this: without the fund, we wouldn’t be doing it,” Dave says. “The space, the resources, the flexibility to develop the model, it made it all happen.” And wider support was equally valuable, he adds: “It was through networking organised by GM Business Growth Hub that we found Eat Well. And other participants in the Innovation Fund led us to people in the hospitality sector. Without those connections, we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

The project is already building momentum beyond the 18-month funding period. “We’ve got people asking to come back and volunteer after they’ve finished their Community Payback hours,” says Dave. “That’s how you know it’s working. It’s giving people purpose and dignity. They’re proud of what they’re doing.”

The programme is also creating routes into work. “Everyone who comes to us from probation already has their Level 2 food hygiene, so it’s just a case of learning by doing. What we’re finding is that employers don’t care so much about qualifications. If someone’s cooked for Eat Well Manchester, that’s their reference.” Around a third of people involved have already moved into employment. “We’re talking to restaurants and catering businesses that are open to employing ex-offenders,” says Dave. “We’re also piloting placements where people cook directly in the restaurants that supply Eat Well. It acts as a work trial, with a real chance of a job at the end.”

Expanding the vision

And Nornir is thinking even bigger. “We’re in talks with a couple of prisons in Greater Manchester about using their kitchens to train serving prisoners to produce good-quality ready meals for austerity retail, as well as a major high street retailer,” says Dave. The aim is to make the model self-sustaining over time by adding a commercial arm, selling meals and mushroom products to fund continued donation-based supply; and creating a model of ‘solidarity retail’ – where communities meet their own needs through shared effort, not handouts – that others can adopt.

“We’re not a food charity. We’re not here to prop up a broken system. We want to build something better. Something rooted in the local economy, in sustainability, and in the belief that everyone has something to offer.”

Nornir’s work is also starting to gain national recognition. “We’ve been described as ‘cooperating out of crime and food poverty’ in a new book from Routledge,” says Dave, referring to The Role of Food in Resettlement and Rehabilitation, published in June 2025. “And the government’s response to the latest Independent Sentencing Review has recommended exploring more projects like ours – especially around placing Community Payback participants directly into commercial kitchens.”

Nornir is interested in talking with restaurants and caterers that are recruiting – please contact dave.nicholson@nornir.co.uk or visit the Nornir website for more about what the organisation does.