Supporting FareShare
Background
Brakes is often left with food that has passed Brakes exacting minimum shelf life, but cannot be distributed even though it is still ‘in date’.
This food would have historically gone to landfill, releasing harmful methane and costing the company thousands of pounds per annum in disposal costs. It is now productively used by FareShare
Action
In March 2010 Brakes entered a partnership with FareShare, the UK’s only national food charity. It provides hundreds of thousands of quality meals to over 30,000 vulnerable people each month, many of them living in hostels, day centres, night shelters and woman’s refuges.
FareShare needs fresh meat and vegetables and Brakes has responded by supplying a selection of healthy, quick to prepare food such as pre-prepared vegetables, portion controlled deserts and chilled meat.
The food Brakes provides is ideal for the charity partners, enabling time-pressured catering staff to turn out varied, high quality meals with minimal effort.
Outcome
By 2011 Brakes estimates it will have donated one million meals.
This initiative not only helps relive food poverty it also reduces food waste and cuts the associated greenhouse gas emissions that result from sending unwanted food to landfill.
Lindsey Boswell, CEO of FareShare said: “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.
