A partnership between Nantwich firm Boughey Distribution and food distribution charity FareShare has now generated 1.5 million meals for vulnerable people in just two years.
Boughey – with warehouses in Wardle and Shavington – stores and distributes ambient food products across the UK.
It is working with a growing number of customers who donate surplus products to FareShare.
The company then transports the food to FareShare’s 30 depots, free-of-charge for journeys of up to 30 miles, and at a small charge for deliveries over 30 miles.
Surplus food can be a result of forecasting issues, mislabelling or promotional items not selling as well as expected.
Instead of products heading to landfill, they enter the FareShare network to make a real difference to people’s lives.
The COVID-19 epidemic has seen a big rise in people across the country needing support with food provision.
The charity’s profile was raised by Manchester Utd footballer Marcus Rashford MBE who continues to campaign to support families at risk of hunger.
Neil Trotter, Boughey’s Transport Operations Director who leads the partnership with the charity, said: “It’s an amazing achievement to have notched up 1.5 million meals for the charity.
“We currently have around 25% of our customers contributing surplus food and during 2022, we are planning to significantly increase the number of those on-board.
“The FareShare partnership provides our customers with a great option to use surplus food in a very positive way, both in terms of preventing waste going to landfill and using their products to address hunger in this country.
“Our link with FareShare has really resonated with our customers.
“We have set up an easy process for the distribution of surplus products to the charity so that it has minimum impact on their day-to-day operations.
“Our sophisticated stock control system also means we can alert customers when food they hold with us is getting close to its best before date.
“Customers can also potentially benefit financially by avoiding charges relating to the return of products, collection costs for food bins, landfill tax and labour to remove packaging.”
Boughey has created a specifically branded trailer which promotes the company’s partnership with FareShare as it travels nationwide.
In the last year, FareShare has provided over 131.9 million meals to people facing food insecurity.
