Five of the UK’s biggest supermarkets have issued a joint appeal for help for families experiencing food poverty, over the remainder of the summer holidays.
The supermarket bosses said they had put traditional rivalries aside to issue the social media appeal for companies to support the industry’s Alliance Food Sourcing efforts.
The call was backed by Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s; Gordon Gafa, managing director of UK food at Tesco; Alex Freudmann, managing director of food at M&S; Tom Denyard, managing director of Waitrose; and Rami Baitiéh, CEO of Morrisons.
It is the latest move by the coalition, which was launched in 2024 in response to King Charles’ Coronation Food Project along with Britain’s biggest food redistribution charity, Felix.
Alliance Food Sourcing has pledged to provide 30 million meals a year by 2028 and has already redistributed over three million ready meals to charities by using surplus line capacity in factories.
Its ‘Let’s Make a Meal’ of it campaign, which ran across stores and online in April, raised £500,000 to be spent on fresh fruit & vegetables, meat, fish and cupboard staples, some of which will be ready to feed people over the summer holidays.
Last month The Grocer revealed the body had worked with Princes to produce one million tins of baked beans for people facing food insecurity over he summer. Cans of Branston Baked Beans will be distributed through Felix’s network of over 8,000 community organisations, schools, food banks and community kitchens.
The supermarket bosses have now urged companies that have not already signed up to get involved with the project.
“You may be surprised to see some of our names side by side – there’s no doubt we work in one of the most competitive sectors in the UK,” they said.
“But sometimes we need to join forces to make the biggest difference. This is one of those times.
“With the summer holidays upon us, many families will be coming together across the country. But the school break is also a time when local food charities see more people seeking support, and often not knowing where their next meal will come from.”
It described the situation of eight million people in the UK going hungry, two million of them children, as “shocking” and unacceptable.
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