Ambitious FareShare and The Felix Project Merger to Strengthen Impact

The UK’s two largest food redistribution charities are uniting to tackle the scale of food waste and food insecurity at a time of urgent need, with the new charity set to adopt the Felix name.

Image: FareShare/The Felix Project

Nearly one in seven people in the UK face food insecurity, while 4.6 million tonnes of good food are wasted each year, the companies highlighted in a press release. 

Demand is rising and eight in ten charities fearing they cannot keep up. As such, FareShare and The Felix Project believe that by combining forces now they will rescue more food, cut more waste and reach more people. 

The merger will form a bigger and more ambitious organisation with a greater national impact on both a social and environmental scale. A refreshed brand identity will be introduced gradually as part of a phased transition, including a period of dual branding before the new charity assumes the Felix name. 

Stronger Together

By combining FareShare’s 30 years of nationwide reach and strategic partnerships with Felix’s innovation and London expertise, the duo said they will be able to pool resources, create more collaborative and efficient ways of working and be part of a stronger, joined-up solution to tackling food waste across the UK. 

The merger will also give the two charities a stronger voice when it comes to campaigning and influencing national policy on food waste and food insecurity. This, the companies say, was demonstrated by the success of their award-winning joint campaign for a national £15-million fund to tackle food surplus on farms. 

Through its 17 independent regional partners, including The Felix Project in London, FareShare works with the food industry to rescue good-to-eat surplus food and get it to over 8,000 charities nationwide. In 2024/25, this network helped provide the equivalent of 148m meals. 

Founded over 30 years ago, FareShare has grown into the UK’s leading national food redistribution charity. The Felix Project was started in 2016 by Justin and Jane Byam Shaw in memory of their son Felix. It operates four depots in North, South, East and West London, which currently support around 1,200 community organisations. It also operates Felix’s Kitchen, which uses surplus food to cook around 5,000 nutritious meals every day. It has been working with FareShare as its London delivery partner since 2020. 

Charlotte Hill OBE with Kris Gibbon-Walsh

Charlotte Hill OBE, who has led The Felix Project to significant growth over the last three years, will be Chief Executive of the new organisation. 

“Our vision is a nation where no good food is wasted and nobody goes hungry,” Hill explained. “Bringing together brilliant colleagues, volunteers and partners from both organisations gives us an unprecedented opportunity to scale up food provision for the UK’s most vulnerable communities.” 

Kris Gibbon-Walsh, currently the CEO of FareShare, will bring his extensive experience in the food industry to his new role as Deputy Chief Executive. Having started as a volunteer over a decade ago, he has since led major innovations, including the launch of FareShare Go, championed the redistribution of surplus food from farms, and overseen a period of record-breaking growth.

“This merger will enable us do so much more to tackle food waste at source, whilst we continue to support our brilliant independent network partners through increased food volumes, funding and operational support,” noted Gibbon-Walsh. “We will also build on FareShare’s 30-year legacy of connecting good food with communities nationwide.” 

Leaders from across the food industry and charity sector welcomed the announcement, including The Coronation Food Project, Sainsbury’s, IGD, and Tesco.