FoodCloud: Matching businesses with surplus food with charities that need food
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.
Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?
Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Founding Story
Team
Through a contact in Ashoka
Co-founder and CEO
Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action.
This is Aoibheann and Iseult’s first entrepreneurial venture and has proven to be an outstanding success.
CEO – Iseult is co-founder and CEO of FoodCloud. She is passionate about food, and it is her passion that drives Foodcloud. Iseult, a Business and Economics graduate and winner of Trinity Business student of the Year 2013, and co-founded FoodCloud while studying in college.
Aoibheann O'Brien is COO of FoodCloud. She obtained an MSc in Environmental Science at Trinity College Dublin, having completed her dissertation on food waste. Aoibheann has previously worked as an environmental consultant with ERM and in the banking sector.
FoodCloud has pioneered several entrepreneurial initiatives, such as our Food Rescue Project in which a team of volunteers redistribute food from stores in Dublin and deliver it to nearby charities using an electric car.
As an early partner, Tesco, the third largest retailer globally, have supported FoodCloud in developing the infrastructure and processes to scale our solution across Ireland and now the majority of Tesco stores across Ireland are donating on a regular basis. We are now working with Tesco Group with the aim of expanding to 100 Tesco stores across the UK this year.
Social Entrepreneurs Ireland provide FoodCloud with access to mentors to support us with activities across our organisation. They have also introduced us to a network of leading social enterprise across Ireland, including CoderDojo and GIY.
In Ireland, we work with the EPA to raise awareness on the problem of food waste. We are also motivated to ensure high standards of food safety education and training for our charity partners and have created a food safety working group in partnership with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and key stakeholders from the food industry.
We have a strategic partnership with Bia Food Initiative, a traditional food redistribution charity in Ireland who opened Ireland’s first surplus food redistribution depot in November 2014. Our partnership represents a powerful growth tool used to expand community impact, cut costs through shared resources, improve skills across the combined organization, and contribute to operational performance and stability.
In Dublin, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) have sponsored us an electric car, which has enabled us to establish the Food Rescue Project, using volunteers to deliver food donations to charities that don’t have the resources to collect. We currently have 74 volunteers participating in this project.
FareShare are our UK partner who are working with us to enable more charities and community organisations in the UK to access surplus food in order to provide nutritious meals for vulnerable individuals and families. This innovative partnership brings together two charities to help address food waste at store level across the UK.