Donate Food
Contribute Surplus Food
If you’re a retailer, wholesaler, grower or manufacturer – we’d love to work with you.
Email us at info@thefoodworks.org or call us on 07542 379 246.
About us
Food Works is a non-profit social enterprise building a fair and sustainable food system for Sheffield. We protect the environment by stopping food from going to waste. We achieve this by:
- Creating value – We make the most of good food by using it creatively and skilfully. This not only prevents waste, but also supports our financial and environmental sustainability.
- Building communities around food – Food Works is a commons where everyone can contribute what they can, so everyone gets what they need.
- Inspiring change – We show what’s possible when food is treated as a shared resource rather than a commodity.
We work with supermarkets, retailers, growers, farmers, manufacturers and other food businesses to rescue good food that would otherwise go to waste. By donating your surplus food, you’re supporting communities across Sheffield and helping us tackle food poverty and climate change.
We make donating easy, safe and efficient – whether it’s regular surplus, one-off deliveries, or stock nearing its best-before date:
- Free collection or easy drop-off options
- Safe, traceable and compliant handling of food donations
- We accept a wide range of surplus including ambient, chilled, and fresh items
- Support your CSR and sustainability goals
- Make a real difference to local people
What kind of food can I donate?
We can accept any food that is fit for human consumption, including:
- Ambient food (tins, jars, dry goods, etc)
- Fresh produce (fruit, vegetables, bread, etc)
- Chilled food stored at safe temperatures
- Frozen food kept within the cold chain
- Food with a short shelf life or past its best before date
We cannot accept food that is unsafe or unsuitable for human consumption, including:
- Food past its “Use By” date
- Chilled or frozen items stored outside safe temperature guidelines
- Packaged or prepared food without allergen or ingredient labels (unless this information can be provided separately)
If you’re unsure about a specific item, just get in touch – we’re happy to advise.
Logistics & Operations
We operate a professional redistribution warehouse in Sheffield, making food donation as seamless as possible for our partners.
- We offer a free collection service for surplus food, helping you cut disposal costs and reduce your carbon footprint
- Local collections are available 7 days a week across Sheffield and nearby areas
- For larger, palletised volumes, we can arrange collections from anywhere in the UK
- Our warehouse team handles all food safely and efficiently.
We are a safe pair of hands:
- Registered food business with a 5-star food hygiene rating from Sheffield City Council
- Robust Food Safety and Hygiene procedures, including a regularly updated HACCP
- Fully compliant with health and safety standards, giving you confidence and peace of mind
Where does the food go?
Your donated food is transformed into affordable, accessible meals that feed people across Sheffield.
We offer all donated food and meals on a pay what you can afford basis.
Depending on what you donate, it will be:
- Cooked and served fresh in our community cafes
- Turned into healthy, ready-to-eat ready meals
- Available to buy at our regular and pop-up markets across Sheffield
- Shared through local partner hubs to reach those who need it most
By partnering with us, your surplus food supports a community-powered, sustainable food system.
If you’re a retailer, wholesaler, grower or manufacturer – we’d love to work with you.
Email us at info@thefoodworks.org or call us on 07542 379 246.
Looking for other ways to partner with us?
We have lots of different options available including corporate away days at our farm, warehouse or kitchens, making a monetary donation or becoming a hub for our ready meals. To find out more, please visit our Partner With Us page.
Surplus Redistribution
Sometimes we get hold of surplus food at large scale, which means we can share this out to other organisations and community groups who can put it to good use in exchange for a contribution to cover the costs of redistributing it.
When this happens we send out alerts to potential recipients on our bulk mailing list. If you are from an organisation who might be interested in receiving these alerts and working with us to prevent food being wasted and delivering an environmental and social impact, you can subscribe to the mailing list below.