Waitrose partners with FareShare to deliver 20 million meals

Waitrose has redirected the equivalent of 20 million meals worth of surplus food to charities and community groups across the UK through its partnership with charity FareShare.

Through its stores, customer fulfilment and distribution centres across the UK, the retailer’s decision to redistribute surplus food is in line with its goal to halve food waste in its own operations and supply chains by 2030, and helping customers to do the same.

Alone, the 168 tonnes of food diverted between July and December 2023 prevented over 269 tonnes of CO2 emissions and more than 252m litres of water from going to waste.

Waitrose now distributes surplus food daily from more than 300 Waitrose stores via FareShare Go, which links local charities and community groups with their nearest store. 

The charities then collect food in-store, typically consisting of items such as bread, fruit and vegetables, which they turn into food parcels or meals for people in the community. 

Waitrose distribution centres in Enfield and Greenford also deliver high quality food, including meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables, to six of FareShare’s nearby warehouses. This food is then distributed to local charities and community projects supporting people in need.

Lindsey Crompton, social impact and health lead at the John Lewis Partnership, said: “With the cost of living continuing to rise, we know that it continues to be a really difficult time for many, and we want to do everything we can to support our communities.

“We’re proud of our ongoing partnership with FareShare, which has made reaching this milestone possible, and takes us even closer to hitting our ambitious goal of halving food waste by 2030.”

Polly Hoffman, head of retail at FareShare, added: “With living costs continuing to rise, there are millions of people struggling to make ends meet across the UK. That’s why we’re immensely grateful to Waitrose for their continued commitment to redistributing surplus from its distribution centres and over 300 stores, to thousands of charities supporting people in communities across the UK, ensuring food goes to people rather than to waste.”

One group that receives food through Waitrose and FareShare is The Smith Brothers Foundation, a registered charity supporting people in Merseyside through support and education. 

Sheryl Dooley, chief executive officer at The Smith Brothers Foundation, said: “A lot of the work we do is in support of autism. We’re launching qualifications in autism and working with training providers to make local places autism friendly. We also run sessions for people living with autism and run loads of workshops for the community. Part of that includes bringing older people and younger people together through local care homes.

“We also run dementia cafés, community smart cooking and food bank alternatives.
That’s where FareShare comes in. Through our food service, dementia café, autism courses and other services, I’d say we’re helping up to 300 people every week. And that’s only counting the direct benefactors, that doesn’t include all of the families that food helps too.”

Dooley added: “There’s so many people going without to feed their families. With FareShare and Waitrose we can help do that; food is massively important now. We’re so grateful for the food we get from Waitrose and FareShare. What they do is brilliant but sadly very much needed.”