Booker provided six million meals in 2023 through charities

Wholesaling giant Booker provided six million meals to charity in 2023 through its partnership with more than 730 FareShare charities and community groups while feeding over 14,000 families via Olio’s Food Waste Heroes. 

Booker was recognised by FareShare as a top food waste partner for the second year running. The wholesaler currently redistributes food via distribution depots and 196 of its branches across the UK directly to FareShare’s network of charities and Olio’s Food Waste Heroes.

Over Christmas, Booker diverted more than 245,000 meals’ worth of food to frontline charities and communities supporting families, the homeless and people with low incomes.

Through the FareShare Go programme, sites are matched with charities and community groups in the local area that collect the items and turn that into food parcels or hot meals for the people they support. 

Simon Millard, director of food at FareShare, said, “We’re immensely grateful to Booker for continuing to support us by redistributing their surplus food through FareShare Go.

“Six million meals is an incredible milestone and the vital food Booker provides to our network of charities and community groups helps them support people facing hunger across the UK.”

Olio’s Food Waste Heroes collect food directly from Booker, which will then be added to its app for people in the local area to collect. 

Saasha Celestial-One, chief operating officer and co-founder of Olio, added, “As one of our longest-standing partners, we’re incredibly proud to be working alongside Booker to fight hunger and help put a stop to food waste across its operations.

“Alongside FareShare, we’re delighted with impact we helped Booker deliver in 2023, and we look forward to seeing what else our partnership can achieve in 2024 and beyond.” 

Catherine Marston, head of sustainability at Booker, said, “We are delighted to continue to work with FareShare and Olio to support people in the UK facing hunger and prevent good food being wasted.

“It is really important to us as a business to continue the work we are doing and we look forward to seeing our partnerships grow.”