Foodbuy and FareShare help some of the most vulnerable during Coronavirus pandemic

A staggering 172.5 tonnes of food, enough to make 410,792 meals has been saved by Foodbuy, the UK’s largest group procurement organisation and FareShare, the charity which fights hunger and tackles food waste – through their industry-leading partnership.

In the first half of this year, as many schools, workplaces, sports venues and events were forced to shut down or reduce their operations in line with the Coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the two organisations worked together to redistribute food to those who needed it most. Products have been shared across 814 charities including community centres and community cafes in deprived areas; food banks and drop in services for those on low incomes; and lunch clubs and day centres for the elderly and vulnerable.

The partnership has also seen Compass Group UK, our parent company and largest client, promote Fareshare in its Surplus Food Donation Guide, which helped teams at site level redistribute food waste during the pandemic; FareShare delivering talks and information to schools that Chartwells, Compass’ education catering business, works with; and Foodbuy support FareShare with buying food to help make meals throughout the pandemic.

FareShare reallocates food from the food industry, turning it into meals for charities and community groups that need them. Last year they provided enough food for nearly 57.3 million meals, helping people across the UK. Compass and Foodbuy have been working with them since 2014 alongside other surplus food charities such as Plan Zheroes, OLIO, Too Good to Go and City Harvest.

Ian Murphy, Managing Director, Foodbuy said: “During the Coronavirus crisis this work has been especially important. With some of our sites closing or working with reduced numbers, we had leftover food and it’s really vital to us that we have been able to use it to support those who need it most.”