surplus food and drink

Surplus food and drink retailer creates multiple jobs

Staff at the UK’s largest exclusively online retailer of surplus food and drink, Approved Food, have now settled into a new 52,000 sq ft facility at Silkstone Court, Barnsley. They join employees from sister company Morris & Son, who moved to the site late in 2019. Both businesses in the Morris & Son Group are now under the same roof for the first time.

The move has enabled the company to create a number of new positions across operations, marketing, purchasing, business development and sales.

Andy Needham, MD at Approved Food, said the move highlighted the company’s growth ambitions.

He added: “Now that both businesses are located under one roof, we can push ahead with our plans for the future. Not only does the new site give us significantly increased capacity, but the investment we have already made in equipment and people are leading to increased efficiencies and cost savings all round.”

Approved Food is the UK’s biggest exclusively online retailer of surplus food and drink, specialising in products that would otherwise go to waste such as short-dated food and drink, cancelled orders, and products with changes in packaging design. The retailer also handles goods with obscure sizes or flavours, alongside everyday staples.

Over the years, other categories such as pet, alcohol, gifts and health and beauty have been added to the website which now carries over 5,500 active product lines, many on a “here today, gone tomorrow” basis.

Established over a decade ago, highlights include TV appearances on Dragons’ Den, Loose Women and Food Fighters. In May 2019, Approved Food was praised by the then Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Gove for its work to reduce food waste through awareness of the difference between use by and best before dates.