FareShare FoodCloud celebrate 5 million meals with Tesco

FareShare FoodCloud is celebrating over five million meals served to more than 3,300 community groups and charities since its launch with Tesco a year ago.

Launched in February 2016, the initiative sees Tesco stores providing their surplus food to local charities and community groups through our FareShare FoodCloud programme. The food helps charities feed vulnerable people and in doing so, allows them to increase the support they are able to give to their beneficiaries.

FareShare FoodCloud links charities and community groups to their local Tesco stores through an innovative software platform, which includes an app that lets local charities know there is surplus food available at the end of each day.

Set to extend to even more stores = more meals

The scheme is live in over 800 Tesco stores, and work is already underway to roll it out to a further 1,800 convenience stores.

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of FareShare, said:

“This is an incredible milestone in store-level food redistribution to charities which Tesco has made possible since developing the programme with FareShare and FoodCloud. Tesco has led the way with introducing such a step-change in tackling their store surplus food and having seen the scheme grow and create such impact for vulnerable people, it proves that it can deliver very obvious results which can benefit other retailers and their local communities too.”

Charities already benefiting from the initiative include:

• The Ace of Clubs (pictured) is part of the Brixton community, which helps homeless people in South London. They have increased their ability to provide hot and nutritious meals and focus on services including helping those in need to find work and accommodation.
• Rainbow House in Glasgow, a recovery centre offering residential rehabilitation, support and social care to help people recover from their addiction and regain control of their lives.
• The Bethel Christian Centre in Dagenham, which regularly provides meals to unemployed, retired or isolated people in the local community.
• Mission Trinity in Goole, East Yorkshire, which provides food to people that are struggling or homeless in the local community.

Matt Davies, UK and ROI CEO at Tesco said:

“It’s great to see the difference Community Food Connection (FareShare FoodCloud) is making in providing charities and community groups with much needed food that would otherwise go to waste. We know we still have more to do to achieve our target that no food safe for human consumption goes to waste in our UK operations, but this milestone represents important progress.

“Our colleagues are playing a vital role. Together with our partners FareShare and FoodCloud, they are helping to make sure local charities across the UK have access to surplus food from our stores.”