Food Card system is innovative solution with environmental benefits. Food doesn’t need to be transported across Estonia and stored in warehouses, reducing administrative expenses, carbon footprint, and the need for warehouse space and paper.
Social workers no longer assemble and distribute packages, reducing their workload. They can focus more on counselling instead.
Food card gives people the freedom and dignity to choose what food and necessities to buy, and from where. Making purchases with the food card is extremely simple, convenient, and discreet. With the food card, individuals can buy an optimal amount of food and therefore reducing food waste. Initial statistics showed that social workers in municipalities had effectively explained the food card system to recipients: they were well aware of how to use it as effectively as possible.
Unique collaboration between the state, local governments and private undertakings.

In October of 2023, the Ministry of Social Affairs implemented a groundbreaking nationwide shift from conventional food aid distribution to a more flexible food card system.
A food aid card is credited with 30 euros per person per quarter. For each family a single food aid card is issued onto which the total support amount for the entire household is credited. For applicants of subsistence benefits, the support amount is calculated based on the number of family members. In the case of local government income-dependent benefits, the support amount is calculated only for the applicant. The support must be used within the quarter and any remaining balance does not carry over to the next quarter. The foodaid card can be used exclusively for purchasing food and basic necessities. With the foodcard one cannot buy cigarettes, alcohol, lottery tickets or gift cards.
The system has received positive feedback from both municipal social workers and beneficiaries, who have embraced the food card system.

We started planning the reorganization of the food aid system already in 2020. There were two reasons for this: 1) the distribution of ready-made packages so far was logistically burdensome for the state 2) food assistance would also like to choose their own food, rather than receiving dry food packages prepared by someone else. A working group was put together to improve the system, experiences from other countries were gathered, and in 2022 the ministry had a proposal for trade chains ready.

The ministry also introduced the idea to municipalities where they also agreed that food cards are a good idea. Until now, the assembly and distribution of food packages was the task of volunteers and social workers of food banks and this meant a large amount of work, because in some municipalities there are several hundred recipients of food aid.
Before the procurement, interviews were conducted with food aid recipients, distributors, store representatives and social workers of municipalities.

The food card recipients are aware of the possibilities of how to make a lot of purchases with the card, at a much cheaper price range, by following discount campaigns and visiting stores when it is possible to purchase with a bigger discount in the same-day.
Statistics on the use of food cards so far show that a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, meat and dairy products are bought. In other words, what was not in the food package before. A big plus is the very accurate statistics across product groups. The Ministry of Social Affairs has a clear overview of how much and which foodstuffs are purchased and which groups of beneficiaries there are, and submits a corresponding report to the European Commission.

The tender winner does not have stores in every small municipality and those seeking help may not be able to visit the store on their own. At the same time, it has 82 stores all over Estonia, and the owner of the food card can shop in any store regardless of where they live. In addition, in cooperation with municipalities, solutions have been developed for people who cannot go to the store themselves. Even those for whom going to the store is difficult can order food home by courier either independently, with the help of relatives/friends or social workers through the e-store.
When the system was launched, there were some problems with the correctness of addresses and notifying people, but these problems have largely been resolved.

For the project to succeed, all parties must have a clear understanding of their roles. The Ministry of Social Affairs determines the target group eligible for food assistance, and local government social workers must be able to provide clear and accurate information to those in need. We consider it a significant asset that Rimi has a highly experienced, extremely sympathetic, and dedicated employee as the project manager, praised by both local government social workers and representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs for their cooperation. We are also pleased that recipients in need find it extremely easy to use the food card, and it does not require any special additional training.

The food card system can be further developed, which will improve its quality and ease of use.
a)Food card users could receive nutritional counseling so that those in need can make healthier food choices and teach them how to use their food card better.
b)Expanded store network: ideally, a person in need of help should be able to shop in every store, but we understand that in this case it is very difficult to get reports together because the stores' IT systems are very different.
c) to involve users in the development of the system and in the collection of feedback to ensure that the current system meets their needs and expectations better, and when a new food card is procured, the feedback is already in line with the current system.

The role of social workers is crucial in the launch of the food card system. They must provide thorough guidance to those in need and explain how to use the food card. In the initial distribution of food cards, there was an incident where a recipient discarded the card after using it.
Initially, it was possible to purchase gift cards with the food card. However, when it became evident that some individuals were using the food card to buy gift cards and then using those gift cards to purchase alcohol, Rimi had to close the option to purchase gift cards within its system.
The lesson for the Ministry of Social Affairs is clearer and more concrete communication (who the target group and how often funds are loaded onto the foodcard).

We consider it very important to add that the monthly fixed costs associated with the food card do not depend on the number of beneficiaries or the financial volume of food aid. Under the new system, a monthly fee is paid to the procurement partner, and a one-time card fee is paid for the issued cards. Since the percentage of repeat beneficiaries is approximately 70%-80%, and the food card is reusable, introducing new major costs to the state with card replacements reduces administrative costs from the previous nearly eight percent to 3-5% of the total allocated amount for food aid. The nationwide food card system is a pioneering solution in Europe, unprecedented in its extensive implementation.