Brakes, a leading supplier to the foodservice industry, has entered a partnership with FareShare, the UK’s only national food charity, which aims to provide hundreds of thousands of quality meals to the most vulnerable people in society.
Food which has passed Brakes exacting minimum shelf life, but is still ‘in date’, is to be distributed to over 30,000 vulnerable people across 600 charities and organisations around the UK per month. As FareShare was in need of fresh meat and vegetables, Brakes is supplying healthy food that is easy and quick to prepare, from pre-prepared vegetables, to portion controlled deserts and chilled meat.
This food would have historically gone to landfill, releasing harmful methane gasses and costing the company thousands of pounds per annum in disposal costs.
Since March, when the initiative went live, Brakes has donated around 300,000 meals and expects to grow this total to one million meals by 2011.
James Armitage, marketing director at Brakes said: “Like all food service companies, we face a perennial problem of what to do with fit-for-purpose foods which have exceeded their minimum shelf life.
“Brakes leads the sector when it comes to minimising food waste – with just 0.2% of fresh produce going to landfill per annum – but we were determined to do more. Our FareShare partnership is an ideal solution and testament to this.
“By establishing a long-term partnership, we know we can help thousands of vulnerable people, reduce a significant expense, and limit our environmental impact.”
Tony Lowe, CEO of FareShare added: “The food provided by Brakes really makes a difference. It is exactly the kind of high quality food that our community members really need. It enables them to provide nutritious meals to their clients – vulnerable people in real need of a healthy diet.
“We hope our relationship with Brakes will continue to flourish so that we can deliver this great food to even more people across the country.”
FareShare, winner of ‘Britain’s Most Admired Charity’ 2010, tackles food poverty and food waste. It distributes food to organisations who work with some of the most disadvantaged people in our society. Hostels, day centres, night shelters and woman’s refuges are among the beneficiaries.
The food products that Brakes provides are ideal for charity organisations, enabling time-pressured catering staff to turn out varied, high quality meals with minimal effort.
FareShare
· FareShare, winner of ‘Britain’s Most Admired Charity’ 2010, redistributes quality surplus food from the food industry to 600 local charities across the UK, supporting homeless and other vulnerable people.
· The charity also provides training and education around the essential life skills of safe food preparation and nutrition, and warehouse employability training through FareShare’s Eat Well Live Well programme.
· Last year, the food redistributed by the charity contributed towards 6.7 million meals for vulnerable people. The charity runs 13 operations across the country and every day 29,000 people benefit from the FareShare service.
· Food companies working with FareShare include Nestlé UK, Sainsbury’s, Gerber Juice and Muller.
For more information on FareShare,
please call Maria Olesen on Tel: 020 7394 2467
Brakes Group
With a turnover of over £2.6bn, Brakes Group is a leading supplier to the foodservice industry in the UK, Ireland, France and Sweden. The group comprises a family of specialist businesses which are able to deliver everything the caterer needs, including their very successful own brand ranges developed specifically for chefs.
Employing over 10,000 people, the group supplies a diverse customer base, which includes, independent pubs, restaurants and hotels, schools, hospitals, contract caterers and well known national chains.
Brakes Group has developed a clear customer focus and a strong understanding of the needs of the foodservice sector providing innovative products and services and is committed to improving both the environment and the communities it serves.