About us
Our model is simple: combine surplus food with inclusive employment to create lasting social value.
We’re a community food social enterprise and 100% not for profit. We generate income through donations, grants and trade, but every pound goes back into rescuing food, feeding people, and creating opportunities locally.
We’re contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive food system across Sussex, keeping good food in circulation, creating jobs, and making nutritious food accessible to the community.
Up to half of all food produced globally is wasted. We focus predominently on farm level surplus, working with growers to stop good food being lost and put it to better use.
Sourcing
Each year we prevent over 25,000kg of surplus food from going to waste. Donations come from three main sources: local farms, not-for-profit food organisations like us in the Surplus Food Network, and fresh produce wholesalers.
We love with working with organic and biodynamic growers in our local area and prioritise getting top quality ethical produce onto our menus at every opportunity. Community dining and using surplus shouldn’t mean poor quality and we are make the most of every donation we receive.
A big thank you to the following organisations for regularly supplying us:
Fareshare/Felix, Shrub, Adams Food Service, Real Junk Food Project, Balfour Food Bank, Infinity (?), Pitfield Veg, Laines Farm, Barcombe, Bayit, Flint Owl.. any more?
A small proportion of our ingredients are purchased, including cooking oil, seasoning and staples such as rice and dried legumes. When we buy in, we prioritise sustainability, responsible sourcing and independent businesses. We also focus on preventing waste in our kitchen, creating everything from vegetable peel crisps to stock powders and composting only what really cant be used.
We are almost entirely vegetarian and do not use surplus meat as it tends to be industrially produced and unethical. On request, we can provide meat for events, and in these cases, we only use wild meat (e.g venison) or high welfare, grass fed meat from Sussex Grazed.
meet the team
Phil
Phil (Co-founder) is an environmentalist who loves food. In 2017 he became the Sussex Gleaning Coordinator and has since visited dozens of farms across Sussex and Kent rescuing surplus fruit and veg. After teaming up . Phil leads on the organisational management of Sussex Surplus and enjoys getting stuck into the practical side of things too.
Ingrid Wakeling
Ingrid (Head Chef & Co-founder) is a local chef who loves working with surplus food in a creative way. Happiest working in a team and sharing her passion for food, Ingrid is inspired by flavours from around the world and the amazing produce of Sussex. Ingrid believes passionately that through communication, inclusivity and food activism we can create the change we want to see in the world.
Josh
Josh (Community Commis Chef) loves trying out new ideas for recipes and saving food that would be wasted. He knows accessibility of good food for lots of disabled people who are isolated needs to be improved. In 2021 Josh wrote a One Pot Manifesto calling for healthy Food Access for All, which he presented at the COP 26 summit in Glasgcow. He has since has turned this manifesto into a recipe book and monthly cook along supper club.
Abi
Abi (Community Outreach Coordinator) has been building an interest in community food since being a teenager and is excited to get stuck in with the project, producing and providing food for the local community and creating connections with other do-ers in the area. She is particularly keen on working with surplus food products as she is hopeful about the potential of its knock-on effects.
Sophie
Sophie (Community Kitchen Coordinator) has worked as a chef locally around Brighton and loves to put her skills to use to benefit the community she grew up in. She is passionate about the importance of healthy, sustainable food and the impact it has on us individually and the environment. Sophie believes that education is key to change and advocates for disability and neuro-diversity awareness, supporting equal opportunities for all.
Sol
Sol (Sous Chef) loves to create satisfying and healthy meals from surplus food, and is enthusiastic about strengthening bonds within the community that will allow living an enriched lifestyle more readily accessible. With a growing interest in hands-on community work, he is eager to disrupt the wasteful food pipeline and encourage a passion of inclusive, equitable care.
Jas
Jas (Sussex Gleaning Coordinator) is a local food grower, a workshop facilitator, yoga teacher and activist. They are passionate about transformative experiences, community building (which food plays a key role in!) and remembering ourselves as part of nature. Just as in nature, there is no such thing as ‘waste’; Jas loves redistributing resources for our collective good.
SOUP Stockists
Seed 'n' Sprout
BN2 1EF
Kindly of Brighton
BN1 3TE
Kindly of Brighton
BN1 4GU
The Store
BN1 6JD
Bristol Estate Convenience Store
BN2 5DB
Our ALLIEs
Our Funders
