Ample teams up with Oakland International

Ample, the marketplace for farm surplus, has teamed up with award-winning logistics company Oakland International to build a kitchen that will produce millions of delicious and nutritious meals for schools and hospitals using surplus food.

The problem: Fresh produce is treated like a pariah – dumped, hidden and destroyed

Up to 15% of all food grown in the UK never leaves the farm, mainly because it doesn’t fit cosmetic requirements demanded by supermarkets. This equates to over 10 million meals every day – more than enough to end food poverty. And farmers, obliged to deliver what consumers want, don’t get paid for produce that doesn’t make the grade. Where does it go? Most is being ploughed in, burned or disposed of as waste.

The Solution: Ample Kitchen

Building on the success of Ample Marketplace, launched in 2024, Ample Kitchen will utilise these surpluses to produce millions of high-value meals, and at the same time ensure that farmers are paid a fair price for their great British produce.

This serves several cost-sensitive markets including school meal programmes, community outlets and the NHS, as well as direct to consumers. Ample meals will also be available to purchase directly and to donate to social causes fighting poverty, including our charity partners such as FareShare and The Felix Project. Our take on BOGOF is to buy one and GIVE one free.

Partners: Ample + Oakland

Ample is a startup innovator that enables British farmers to sell their fresh, tasty produce to sustainably-minded businesses in the food industry including restaurants, wholesalers, manufacturers, caterers and charities. Oakland International is an award-winning full service logistics business with a reputation for innovation through sustainability, servicing retail, wholesale, discount and convenience markets in the UK and Ireland.

Leon Aarts, food advocate and Ample Co-Founder said, “We are really excited to be launching Ample Kitchen because it will demonstrate a sustainable way to address our food chain crisis. We can’t bear to see good food go to waste, especially when we all know how important it is to act and mitigate climate change. Together with our amazing partners at Oakland we are bringing nutritious and delicious British food to students and patients at keen prices.”

Dean Attwell, Co-Founder of Oakland International commented, “At Oakland, we know our purpose extends beyond job creation and profit and we measure our success by the impact made in the many communities that make us who we are. We are delighted to partner with Ample to support this ambitious project to establish a dedicated industrial-scale kitchen that will provide high-quality food that will be really appreciated by schools and hospitals.”

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