Food rescue and relief companies, SecondBite and FareShare, say their merger will revitalise the food relief sector. The new company will launch on 1 July.
Founded in 2001, FareShare operates Australia’s largest non-profit kitchens in Melbourne and Brisbane. These kitchens transform rescued and donated food, as well as produce grown on their own farms, into approximately two million meals each year for people in need.
The meals are distributed to agencies and charities to feed people experiencing food insecurity, including hundreds of thousands of ready to eat meals provided to First Nations communities in Queensland and New South Wales.
SecondBite, founded in 2005, works with farmers, retailers and manufacturers to provide approximately 25 million kilograms of surplus quality produce every year, to more than 1000 charity partners supporting communities experiencing food insecurity.
The companies have been collaborating at executive and operational levels for years, with SecondBite acting as a long term supplier of ingredients and distributor for FareShare’s meals.
SecondBite chief executive officer, Daniel Moorfield, said that both organisations had strong operational and values alignment.
“Combining the incredible community-led culture of FareShare with the national scale and heartfelt reach of SecondBite will enable a single solution for providing free, nutritious food to communities who need it most,” he said.
“I am excited to see what the future holds for the food rescue and relief sector, and our fellow sector partners as we continue to collaborate through advocacy, innovation and transformation, responding to the ever-increasing need and changes in the complexity of issues.”
SecondBite’s research has found almost half (48 per cent) of all Australians have skipped at least one meal a week due to financial reasons.
With food insecurity growing nationwide due to the cost of living crisis, the merger was a logical next step for the two organisations. FareShare vice board chair Sandy Dudakov said that it would transform the sector.
“FareShare meals can be distributed nationally in the community utilising the existing SecondBite network. Front-line agencies will have the convenience of a single delivery providing SecondBite food and FareShare meals.
“Our reach will be wider, and our ability to provide more nutritious meals to many more people will be vastly improved. My hope is that this merger will inspire even greater collaboration between all members of the food relief sector.”
As major food and financial donors to FareShare and SecondBite, Coles and Woolworths have announced their strong support for this merger.
FareShare has been supported by Woolworths since 2008, and Coles has been partnering with SecondBite since 2011, to assist in fundraising and collecting donations.
