Sysco GB extends partnership with City Harvest

Sysco companies Fresh Direct and Wild Harvest have joined Brakes’ London depot in forming a new partnership with emergency food charity City Harvest to provide surplus food to vulnerable groups.

City Harvest has seen a dramatic increase in demand as families struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, with one in four Londoners facing food insecurity.

The new partnership will see City Harvest collect from Fresh Direct and Wild Harvest’s Dagenham depot twice a week, in addition to weekly collections from Brakes’ site in Park Royal, helping charities including Shepherd’s Bush Families Project and The Soup Kitchen London. It is anticipated that food donated by Sysco GB will provide around 200,000 meals every year and save approximately 330 tonnes of carbon.

The Fresh Direct team will also spend time volunteering at the City Harvest depot so that they understand the demands on the charity and the value it is adding to local communities.

Sysco GB sustainability manager Emily Pinkney said: “It’s fantastic to work with an organisation like City Harvest to ensure surplus food goes to support people who really need it. Our goal is to minimise food waste through every stage of our operations, but sometimes it’s unavoidable, and this partnership will help ensure that it’s not wasted. Working with City Harvest is so easy; we recommend them to other companies as a sustainable solution to surplus food.”

The partnership with City Harvest supports Sysco’s purpose, which is ‘Connecting the world to share food and care for one another’. This will see Sysco generate $500 million worth of good by 2025, including £10 million in the UK.