Tesco’s Newton Abbot store has donated more than 23,000 meals to those in need.
The store belongs to the supermarket chain’s Community Food Connection scheme, which celebrates its fourth birthday this weekend and is run in conjunction with leading food charity FareShare.
This Saturday store colleagues will be talking to customers about how the scheme provides free surplus food, and they will be inviting local charities and community groups who already receive food from the scheme so that they can encourage even more to sign up.
The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that Tesco stores are able to donate surplus food at the end of the day to charities and community groups. It uses an innovative app developed by social enterprise FoodCloud, to notify groups each night about the food available for collection.
Today, more than 7,000 groups are able to pick up free food from their local Tesco store. Since the scheme began, Tesco has donated more than 36 million meals, with more than one million meals a month now being donated.
The Newton Abbot store has donated 23,058 meals so far.
Alec Brown, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “At Tesco we firmly believe that no good food should go to waste. That is why we set up our Community Food Connection scheme, which ensures that our surplus food is put to good use in the local community.
“This weekend we are celebrating four years of the scheme with our colleagues and customers, and we hope this will encourage more groups to sign up so that even more surplus food benefits local groups.”
FareShare Chief Executive Lindsay Boswell said: “The food that Tesco donates makes a really makes a big difference to local charities and communities across the UK.
“We are proud to have been able to work with Tesco over the past four years to create this pioneering scheme, which is the biggest of its kind in the UK. We hope that by celebrating this milestone with Tesco colleagues and customers, we can reach out to even more charities and community groups so that they can receive the free surplus food that Tesco is able to offer.”
To find out more details about Community Food Connection and how local groups can benefit please visit XXX store on Saturday, June 1, or visit www.tesco.com/community-food-connection
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