Quorn first partnered with FareShare over 5 years ago, offering a much-valued source of meat-free protein to the charity. Since then, Quorn has donated an incredible amount of good-to-eat surplus food to charities and community centres in FareShare’s network – the equivalent of more than 230,000 meals!
In 2023, the team at QuornPro, Quorn’s foodservice division, heard about FareShare’s Summer Hunger campaign and were keen to get stuck in, and began to identify ways of unlocking even more surplus food in their operations.
With demand for FareShare food rising during the school holidays as families face soaring food bills and increased childcare costs, FareShare’s Summer Hunger campaign is designed to ensure more good food gets to the people that need it.By providing food to over 2,000 charities that support children, FareShare and its partners like Quorn play a crucial role in combating holiday hunger.
Quorn’s Innovation teams regularly put new products to the test in their demo kitchens and were often left with surplus stock. In collaboration with Oakland International, a supply chain specialist facility, FareShare and Quorn were able to identify an opportunity to redistribute unused trial stock which was perfectly good to eat, but unsuitable for commercial use.
With the help of Oakland the 10kg bags of frozen trial stock were repacked into smaller bags that are much easier for FareShare’s charity network to use. This brilliant bit of teamwork meant that Quorn’s products could go one step further, providing real value to those living in food poverty in the UK.
Jeannie Williamson, FareShare Commercial Manager, says: “When I talked with Ellie Janes from QuornPro about the FareShare Summer Hunger campaign I was delighted by her enthusiasm to support us with the NPD trial products. I recognised what a valuable source of protein Quorn products offer at a time of skyrocketing demand from families struggling to make ends meet. We were keen to get these products to the charities and community groups we serve but realised that people would need to take them home from these charities in smaller bags. This meant they needed to be repackaged into small sized packs. Oakland have provided a fantastic service to do this, enabling us to take further NPD trial stock from Quorn and get this fabulous protein to those people who need it most.”
Carl Hawkes, Head of Network Support at FareShare, says: “We work very closely with our logistics partner Oakland International, and they are always keen to help us distribute more food. They understood the need to repack this valuable source of protein into a smaller pack size to make it more accessible for the people getting food from the charities and community groups we serve.
“To do this Oakland set up a “High Care” facility at one of their sites that is already used for FareShare products and were able to repack not only the initial volumes provided by Quorn but also a second quantity trial stock too. Having this facility available is a key enabler for FareShare in sourcing more food. Thank you Oakland and Quorn.”
Ellie Janes – Senior Lead Net Positive Quorn Pro
Growing healthy protein for people and the planet is what we do. If we want to drive change to our food systems and stop perfectly good food from going to waste, we have to work together. I’m proud to work with colleagues that want to drive change and I’m pleased to have met with Jeannie from Fare share to unlock this opportunity to not only stop food waste, but to help support more families dealing with the cost of living crisis.
Soup and More Food Foodbank – Leeds
The charity is a hub of its community, not only providing food, but also inviting people to enjoy a snack or hot meal with others, using food to strengthen links within the local community.
Most weeks the team at Soup and More Food will cook up a snack or taster for the clients to enjoy whilst attending the pantry. Quorn was hugely popular, with everyone who tried it wanting to take some home with them that day.
The charity supports a lot of Jewish and Muslim people, and so Quorn is an excellent choice alongside halal or kosher meats.
