Compass Group UK & Ireland 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 Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s market leading foodservice business and FareShare, the charity which fights hunger and tackles food waste – through their industry-leading partnership.

Supporting the community

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; foodbanks 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 FareShare delivering talks and information to schools that Chartwells, Compass’ education catering business, works with; Compass promoting FareShare in its Surplus Food Donation Guide, which helped teams at site level redistribute food during the pandemic; and Foodbuy, Compass’ procurement business, supported FareShare with buying food to help make meals throughout the pandemic.

Redistributing food to those in need

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 has 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, MD Foodbuy – Compass’ procurement business 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 in society that need it most.”

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive at FareShare said: “Our partnership with Compass continues to go from strength to strength and it’s great to see that we’re helping reduce wasted food and putting it to good use. The food sent to us by Compass adds to the immense difference which our charities are able to make to the life of their beneficiaries.”