Asda donates over half a million meals to support food distribution charity

The Leeds-based grocer has donated surplus food equating to 534,848 meals, which have been distributed to thousands of families who are most in need across the region.

In April 2020, TBBT experienced a 460 per cent increase in need year-on-year due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the following months to December, membership grew by 50 per cent from 8,000 to 12,000 members with the charity providing 3.2 million meals, which have been provided with Asda's help.

Karen Todd, Asda’s zero waste manager, said: “At Asda, we are really proud that through our partnership with TBBT we are able to help support so many families who are facing difficult times by providing surplus food, which not only provides much needed meals for those in need, but also helps us tackle food waste, something which our customers and colleagues are really passionate about.

"We continue to work hard to reduce our food waste and its through partnerships like these that we can ensure surplus food can be delivered to the communities where it is needed the most.”

Mark Game, CEO of TBBT said: "We're enormously grateful for the support that Asda have given us this year with a whole variety of stock and supplies helping us to keep our growing number of members fed.

"We've now got over 12,000 members, 80 per cent of whom used to skip meals to feed their families. By using TBBT's affordable food service we know that we're enabling people to eat better quality and healthier food and we couldn't do that without the help of our brilliant partner suppliers like Asda."

Since the start of the pandemic, TBBT has opened 11 new hubs, taking it to 35 in total, including locations in Darlington and County Durham where its second warehouse opened in November.

This growth will continue with 20 new hubs opening in early 2021, including its first in Hartlepool and further hubs in Oldham, Tameside, Durham and Darlington, taking it to over 50 hubs by the summer.