When discussing new organizational concepts for urban food distribution, researchers refer to the model known as regional and/ or alternative FHs, which have been defined by Morley et al. (2008) as ‘‘partnership-based arrangements that coordinate the distribution of a range of food products from producers of a uniform provenance to conventional or hybrid markets’’. This definition has been revised and extended by Barham et al. (2012), who have identified commercial and logistics functions which enhance the node’s efficiency. Although initially referred to commercial services (mainly related to their potential for coordinating sales and orders), FHs can also be seen from a logistics perspective. Indeed, they are characterized by three core components, namely (i) aggregation, distribution and wholesale activities; (ii) active coordination; and (iii) permanent facilities. They essentially play the role of warehouses (straightforward storage) but, in some cases, can be seen as consolidation and cross-docking platforms