The Felix Project

We sort and deliver this food to almost 1000 front-line charities, primary schools and holiday programmes across London reaching the vulnerable, homeless, people with mental health or those who simply cannot afford to buy quality, nutritious food. We were founded in 2016 by Justin Byam Shaw, in memory of his son Felix, who passed away aged 14 from meningitis.

Website: thefelixproject.org Contact: [email protected]

Impact in numbers (as at April 2022)

• In 2021, The Felix Project redistributed the equivalent of 30 million meals to ~1000 charities and schools.

• Over 434,740 Londoners were given food each week in 2021.

• This year, we aim to deliver the equivalent of 38 million meals to Londoners in need.

Examples of industry partners

Sainsbury’s, Mindful Chef, Ocado, Co-Op, Natoora, Muller, Kerry Group, Pret & Oddbox, Deliveroo

What we do with the food

We sort the food to make sure it’s safe and good quality and deliver it to charities and schools across London. We have a kitchen operation, Felix’s Kitchen, that creates cooked meals from surplus food, which we package up and send out as part of our usual deliveries. The food ends up in all kinds of places; handed out for free at schools to struggling families; being turned into hot meals at homeless shelters and women’s refuges; handed out at churches, temples, and mosques; put into food packages at food banks and community stores; or delivered by local organisations direct to the doors of the shielding and elderly.

Operations

We have depots in Park Royal, Enfield, Deptford & Poplar alongside a ‘green’ solution in central London and Felix’s Kitchen in Poplar, East London. We work with our chosen haulage partner Upminster Distribution to collect large loads of surplus from anywhere in the country.

We handle all types of food and work with all sectors of the food supply chain. We have chiller and freezer capacity and a kitchen that allows us to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste.

Wider network

We are part of the Fareshare UK national network and we are their exclusive regional delivery partner in London.

Key programmes/capabilities

Felix’s Kitchen is staffed by professional chefs and supported by volunteers. It aims to produce 1.5 million meals a year and is situated in Tower Hamlets, where 55 per cent of children live in poverty, the highest rate in the UK and Europe.

We’ve allocated additional resource to gleaning from farms and redistributing frozen food to grow these categories. We see this as a massive opportunity that will allow us to meet the growing need for surplus food across London.

Our gleaning programme rescued 60 tonnes of produce direct from farms in 2020 and we hope to double that number in 2021.

Testimonial

“It’s been quite the year. My child’s dad passed away in August, so we became a single income family, and although I am lucky to be on furlough due to COVID, the pay cut has led to difficulties.

I started receiving food from the Felix Project in January, which means I can cook good healthy meals for my child. The food from The Felix Project has helped us stay afloat. The Felix Project does incredible work of real value to families like mine. “

Anonymous