Food Hero Category – 2020 Supreme Winner Fair Food Charitable Trust

Fair Food Charitable Trust, founded in 2011 is a proven, well-established and deeply respected food rescue operation in West Auckland. Fair Food rescue surplus fit-to-eat food to feed those in need. By doing so, Fair Food addresses social and environmental issues that were among the most urgent and concerning even before COVID-19 struck.

From redistributing 121 tonnes (345,714 meals) of good surplus food in 2019 to help feed those in need in the community, to radically scaling up their response overnight due to COVID-19 to rescue on average 143 tonnes (over 400,000 meals) per month in 2020. Veronica Shale, Executive Director, emphasises now THAT’S a New Zealand food heroes response!

“We decided to enter the NZ Food Awards to celebrate the amazing mahi of the Fair Food team and others in the food industry who pulled together during an exceptional time to support the team of five million. We were also cognisant that COVID-19 had spurred on a resounding global awareness about the impact of major events of food supply chains and in turn, the importance of minimising food loss. We were stoked to win the award for Greater Good NZ Food Heroes Award but to then win the Supreme Winner’s award, well, that was an absolute shock but also a huge honour.

We’ve been able to share the kudos of this award in every grant we’ve written, event we’ve run and numerous communications to showcase our dedication, innovation, leadership and teamwork to solve big problems. It also features pride and place in our front window, and the awards themselves, grace our communal kitchen.

This award shows that while we have fun with a purpose, we’re serious about feeding people, not landfill. The recognition by Massey University, the food industry and also New Zealanders in general - that food recovery makes ethical, economic and environmental sense - is an awakening and opportunity. As a nation laden with the world’s best food producers and a worldwide reputation for kindness, innovation and environmental credentials, it makes perfect sense that NZ should lead the world in food recovery and repurposing.”

Entry:

1. Brand Name
Fair Food Charitable Trust

Food Hero Award Questions:

Innovation

2. Where did the idea for this business/service/product come from?

Fair Food is Auckland's first and original food rescue charity. Fair Food was founded in 2011 as a free food store - a collaboration between MPHS Community Trust and Lifewise Trust to respond to the community need for access to fresh, good food for people who needed it, and for those sleeping rough and socially isolated. Fair Food was registered as a charitable trust in 2012 focusing on food rescue and re-distributing food to a number of charities.

When COVID-19 struck, our services as a food rescue and distribution centre played an instrumental role in providing real-time solutions. Without our services tonnes of food would have perished and the opportunity to have provided good quality food for those in need would have been wasted. 

3. What were some of the challenges the business / service / product has faced and how did you overcome them?

 When COVID-19 struck the demand for our services were extremely high. We stepped up and coordinated national rescues for the likes of Horticulture NZ to ensure surplus good food from local growers could be used by their local communities to help those in need. Among rescues from the COVID-19 impacted hospitality supply chain, we found homes overnight for a surplus 26,000 eggs! All this on the smell of an oily rag, a tonne of Kiwi kindness, a can-do attitude and local community connections. We mobilised to help fellow Kiwis impacted by COVID-19 - both in businesses and at home.

We met the demand by running our distribution out of four local West Auckland sites with additional donated manpower and infrastructure as follows:

1.     Oratia – a decommissioned orchard with large freezer storage, warehouse, trucks, forklift, drivers/handlers, warehouse staff.

2.     Massey – a seafood processing plant with a truck, drivers/handlers, chilled and dry storage, food packing room and packers.

3.     Avondale – a shared private business warehouse space with manager, truck, van, driver, forklift for volunteers who were sorting and packing fresh.

4.     Henderson – a shared warehouse for Fair Food vans, with container storage.  

This operating system shows the strength of Fair Food’s long-term community and business relationships, and ability to find solutions in the midst of a crisis. It shows our sheer grit and determination to be part of a solution and share the love. 

The willingness to ‘pitch in’ over this time, in turn also significantly aided the mental health and well-being of all those that volunteered their time and resources over a challenging time for most.

Sustainability

4. Provide a specific example of environmental sustainability and social sustainability initiatives related to the business/service/product you have entered

Food rescue responds to both pressing environmental and social sustainability objectives. During COVID-19, Fair Food rescued on average 143 tonnes of surplus food destined for landfill per month, equating to over 400,000 meals per month, nourishing 80,000 families who were struggling to put kai on the table and reducing carbon emissions of waste to landfill by over 110,000 kgs.

Excellence

5. Briefly outline your business / service / product process.

• As a food rescue service, our drivers and trucks are on the road each day (7am - 1pm) completing their set runs collecting good surplus food from our partner supermarkets, other food producers, manufacturers, retailers and hospitality. We also do short notice, ad-hoc food rescues from food donors (1pm-3pm).

• The rescued food is then delivered back to our Hub where it is lovingly hand sorted by a band of volunteers.

• We sort the food into fit-to-eat boxes, fit-to-cook boxes, fit-for-compost or animal feed.

• Everything is then weighed so we can measure our social and environmental impact and then it's stowed ready for collection the next morning.

• The next morning at a set time our partner charities arrive one-by-one to collect their allocated fresh fruit, vegetables, protein, dairy, bread and any shelf stable dry goods that have been donated. 

6.     How did you determine success in the market?

• By our impact - we measure the amount of food we rescue, how many meals we provide to the community and the reduction of carbon emissions as a result of this food being saved from landfill. In time, we want to improve how we measure our outcomes and impacts in the community so that we’re confident that food is making a positive long-term impact in our communities.

• By our reputation - being respected and trusted in our community by our recipients, our food donors and in the food rescue sector, and being known as creative, connected and collaborative problem solvers.