Greggs, the leading UK food-to-go retailer, has provided the equivalent of over one million meals – 420 tonnes of surplus food – to charities and community groups across the UK, in partnership with FareShare.
FareShare is the UK’s biggest food redistribution charity, tackling the environmental issue of food waste for social good. By redistributing surplus food from businesses like Greggs, it helps to support communities across the country and provide food to those who need it the most.
Greggs’ partnership with FareShare was established in 2014 and has evolved from facilitating end of day charity collections from Greggs shops into what is now a successful collaboration that centres on the provision of surplus food direct from Greggs’ distribution and manufacturing sites. This shift has significantly increased the amount of food Greggs has been able to supply, growing from four tonnes in 2017 to over thirty tonnes in the past year.
Food provided in the last 12 months alone has supported over 1,500 charities across the UK, including regions serviced by FareShare’s distribution centres in Glasgow, the North East, Yorkshire, Manchester, the Midlands, London, Wales, and Southampton.
As part of the partnership, Greggs has supplied a variety of nutritious products, such as chargrilled chicken, fruit pots, and sandwich mixes, for charitable distribution including food banks, after school clubs, women’s refuges, homeless shelters and community larders.
Reducing food waste is a key priority for Greggs, as outlined in the company’s sustainability plan – The Greggs Pledge. By 2025, Greggs aims to reduce food surplus by 25% compared to 2018 levels.
In addition to its longstanding partnership with FareShare, Greggs also redistributes unsold food through end of day donations to around 1,000 UK charities, selling discounted surprise bags at over 1,000 shops through Too Good To Go and via its network of Greggs Outlet shops, which sell day old food at reduced prices and then donate a share of profits to local community organisations dedicated to tackling food poverty and improving social mobility. In 2023, Greggs donated almost £650,000 of Outlet shop profits to community grants.
Roisin Currie, chief executive at Greggs, commented: “Achieving one million meals provided in collaboration with FareShare demonstrates our commitment to tackling food waste and supporting communities across the UK. This partnership is complementary to our other food redistribution initiatives, allowing us to make a significant positive impact as we continue to expand our sustainability efforts and provide food to those who need it the most.”
Polly Hofmann, head of strategic food partnerships at FareShare, said: “We are enormously grateful to the team at Greggs for their continued support and reaching the significant milestone of providing the equivalent of one million meals. Since 2014 Greggs has worked with us to ensure regular supplies of surplus food to help support our network of over 8,000 charities across the UK. These range from afterschool and breakfast clubs to hospices, domestic abuse refuges and homelessness shelters, all providing vital services. With demand at an all-time high, the support of our partners in the food industry is more important than ever. By providing FareShare with surplus products, Greggs has made a huge difference to ensure that good food goes to people, not waste, and helped support and strengthen communities across the country.”
