Whether you are a food and drink supplier or shop, restaurant or bar that has a bulging warehouse due not being open, or have stock that is about to be wasted due to dates there are things you can do to repurpose stock and not waste it.

Not everyone impacted by COVID 19 is lucky enough to be able to go and do a large food shop as budgets and income have been affected. Now if you are local restaurant or bar you probably won’t have too much stock but with cancellations of your orders, some warehouses will be backed up with stock that should have been heading out in this direction.

There are many ways stock can be re-purposed. One example of excellent stock management and producing something useful in these unusual times are Morrisons food boxes. These handy packs of products can be delivered to people in the community offer a valuable source of produce if they can’t get out to the shops. With meat or vegetarian options available they are helping keep those people at home that need to be there.

Over recent years there have been a rise in the use of foodbanks all over the UK. These are vital part of some communities and the perfect way to give back to a community. Preventing wastage this way is a beautiful example of re-purposing your potential wastage. Looking at the supply chain there is an impact throughout if a warehouse is bulging with product not being used.

The Trussell Trust who organise all foodbanks in the UK stated last week that “Sainsbury’s, The Entertainer, Palletforce, XPO Logistics and British Gas have joined forces to help distribute food to people who need it most. The unprecedented partnership will ensure the Trussell Trust and FareShare can continue to help support people struggling in light of the coronavirus outbreak.”

Lindsay Boswell, CEO at FareShare, said: “This partnership is a testament to the incredible things we can achieve when businesses and the voluntary sector works together with a common purpose. It will enable FareShare to dramatically scale up the amount of food we can distribute right across the UK, enabling us to get more food out to the thousands of charities and community groups, fellow food redistribution organisations, food banks and pantries. It is these groups who, under the most extraordinary circumstances, are doing everything they can to safely deliver food onto the doorsteps of those who are most at risk.”

Releasing pressures on the supply chain during these challenging times will help all businesses that play a role.