Foodworks’ volunteer-led franchise is simple, but inspired

FoodWorks combines young volunteers, surplus food and a free kitchen space to create nutritious meals for people affected by food poverty.

The premise is simple.  Food retailers throw out millions of tons of edible food every year due to supply overstock.  Foodworks redirects this food so it can be used to cook nutritious meals for people in the local community that do not have access to healthy foods for a variety of reasons, such as lack of income or knowledge of healthy nutrition.  They do this by blagging free kitchen space and recruiting young volunteers to run the project.

The beauty of the Foodworks project is that makes value of under-utilised resources: food that was going to binned, kitchens that were left idle, and volunteers that who wanted something meaningful to do. It’s also easily replicable.  Those who want to set up their own Foodworks project are invited to get a group (preferably 3-4) of young people together from the local community, and, with support from Foodworks, conduct a feasibility study of the local area, and then start connecting idle resources in the community.

The organisation offers one-to-one support, marketing materials, contacts, help with the leagal side, and the initial seed funding to ensure that the project is off to the running start. It’s a voluntary franchise!

Foodworks proudly states that the voices of our volunteers are at the heart of our organisation: “We provide the tools, and let them take the lead.”

So simple, so economical and so effective.