The French Federation of Food Banks (FFBA) coordinates a national network of 79 food banks which collect 113,000 tons of free food products every year, 73,000 tons of which would otherwise be wasted. By teaming up with the FFBA, Elior will now be able to redistribute the surplus food stuffs from its 9,700 restaurants and central kitchens in France to associations providing support to people in need.
Collaborating with Elior is a tremendous opportunity for the Food Banks network. As such, we hope that this partnership will enable us to go further in our fight against food waste and underpin our commitment to those who benefit from food assistance.
— Laurence Champier - FFBA director
With 1.4 million meals served everyday in France, Elior has made the fight against food waste one of the pillars of its Elior Group Positive Foodprint Plan CSR strategy. In 2017, Elior passed another milestone by making a commitment in its Zero food waste charter to recycle 100% of its food waste by 2025. This goal is in line with UN sustainable development goal number 12 to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns particularly with regard to food waste. Due to the cradle-to-cradle approach of the charter Elior is able to reduce and recycle waste at every stage of the food chain and in all of the countries where it is present.
More than ever aware of the inequalities regarding access to food products, and of the environmental impacts of waste, we decided to go take our commitment even further. With this nation-wide partnership between Elior and the French Federation of Food Banks all Elior restaurants and central kitchens will be able to redistribute their surplus food stuffs. We are proud to have forged this partnership which is at once global and local.
— Jean-Yves Fontaine - CEO of Elior France
Every food bank may act in two ways: either directly, by recuperating food donations from Elior establishments then finding the associations themselves and distributing the food donated, or indirectly, by referencing the association responsible for ensuring the donated food is distributed to end-users and for collecting the food donations from Elior’s establishments.
Elior Group is also a partner of the Italian Food Bank Federation (Fondazione Banco Alimentare) since 2004, and has been collaborating since 2019 with the Spanish equivalent. This partnership in France strengthens the Group's commitment and is in line with a circular economy approach.