News
INBRIEF ‘ONE IN THREE’ GO LOW OR NO UK consumers are increasingly choosing low and no alcohol products all year round and not just for Dry January, according to the fourth annual online study by drinks watchdog The Portman Group, carried out in December. Carried out by YouGov, the report found that almost
Booker provides one million meals for needy Booker has redistributed enough food to provide the equivalent of one million meals through FareShare’s network of charities.
one in three (32%) UK drinkers now ‘semi-regularly’ consume low and no alcohol products compared to one in four (25%) in 2020. A fifth (20%) of those who have tried low and no alcohol say they are more likely to drink these products now compared to a year ago, almost double the number saying this in last year’s survey (11%). The most popular reason given is ‘being able to drive home from social events’ (33% of respondents) while healthier consumption concerns were cited by 22% of consumers. More than one in 10 consumers (12%) said they currently alternate between low/no products and regular strength alcohol to moderate their overall consumption. However, well over half (58%) of non-drinkers have never even tried a low/no product and just 14% are semiregular consumers.
8 TalkingShop February 2022
Working with FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste, Booker has redistributed enough food to provide the equivalent of one million meals for communities across the UK since April 2021. Booker is the first wholesaler to redistribute food directly to FareShare’s network of charities through the FareShare Go programme and the free sharing app OLIO. ‘Food Waste Heroes’ collect food directly from Booker and Makro branches, which is then added to its app for people in the local area to collect. Through FareShare Go, Booker sites are matched with charities and community groups in the local area that collect the items and turn that into food parcels or hot meals for the people they support. The food redistributed by Booker includes a range of large catering size packs, vegetables, deli and sandwich fillings, as well as smaller packs of meats, fish and fruit. Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: “Thank you to Booker for working with FareShare and OLIO to redistribute the equivalent of one million meals. This food is needed now more
than ever and is making a huge difference to people in need across the country. “We’ve received lots of positive feedback from our network of charities collecting food through Booker and the colleagues in Booker branches are building strong relationships with their local community thanks to this programme.” Tessa Clarke, Co-founder & CEO at OLIO, said: “This is such an incredible milestone, as one million meals is an enormous amount of food. We’re absolutely thrilled about the impact our partnership with Booker and FareShare is having - both on the local community and the climate - and we look forward to saving many more
millions of meals together.” Catherine Marston, Head of Sustainability at Booker said: “We are delighted that our teams across the whole Booker business have worked so hard with their local partners to reach this fantastic milestone. Not allowing any edible food go to waste is something that everyone at Booker is passionate about and we are proud to be the first wholesaler to work in such a collaborative way with FareShare and OLIO. Our food waste represents just 0.15% of total food handled which is market-leading. We are off to a great start with this partnership and I’m really looking forward to building on this success.”
