Ashington bakery agrees partnership with FareShare

Baker & Baker, which has a manufacturing site on Wiston Business Park, will be working closely with FareShare to redistribute products and ingredients from across its four UK manufacturing sites in Ashington, Bromborough, Bradford and Daventry that would otherwise be destined for food waste.

FareShare operates a national network of charitable food redistributors via its regional centres and supports over 9,500 charities throughout the UK. In 2022, FareShare redistributed food equivalent to 126 million meals.

The partnership forms one strand of Baker & Baker’s approach to deliver sustainable business initiatives across its manufacturing operations. Food waste reduction programmes are a critical component of reducing the business’s impact on the environment, and ensuring that products are redirected to charities and community groups wherever possible.

Reducing food wastage will also have a positive impact on Baker & Baker’s carbon footprint and as a component of the business’s strategy to move towards net zero. More details on Baker & Baker’s net zero journey will be published later in the year.

The agreement with FareShare follows a successful trial of bakery products that Baker & Baker donated in 2022 from its Bradford site, with over four tonnes of products supporting almost 550 UK charities.

Baker & Baker is also exploring potential partners to support food redistribution efforts at its continental European sites.

John Lindsay, Baker & Baker CEO, commented: “We’re extremely excited to begin working with FareShare in the UK.

“Food waste can sometimes be unavoidable, including surplus stock that remains perfectly safe to eat. In these instances, the responsible course of action is to ensure organisations such as FareShare can redistribute products to those most in need.

“FareShare and their network undertake some fantastic initiatives in communities throughout the country, and as such, we believe they are the perfect partner for Baker & Baker.”

Lucy Allison, Head of Food Industry at FareShare, said: “We are delighted to be working with Baker & Baker to redistribute surplus from their sites to charities and community groups across the UK.

“The cost of living crisis has had a disproportionate impact on people struggling to make ends meet, and we are so appreciative to work with companies like Baker & Baker that share our vision that no good food should go to waste. We look forward to seeing this partnership flourish.”

Baker & Baker is one the UK’s leading sweet bakery manufacturers. The business supplies a range of doughnuts, muffins, brownies, cookies and cakes to customers in the retail, food service, wholesale and artisan bakery sectors. The business employs around 1350 people in the UK across four sites, with 200 people based at Baker & Baker’s Ashington site.