The FoodMesh team is united in our love for food and passion for helping organizations waste less, feed more and save money.
2021 Benefit Corporation Report
Over the course of 2021, FoodMesh has remained laser-focused on its mission to help organizations waste less food, feed more and save money. During the year, the organizations we work with hit the incredible milestone of 10 million meals rescued since FoodMesh began in 2016, and that number is growing by around 800,000 meals every month.
While the ongoing pandemic has thrown the team and the organizations we work with some curveballs, we have worked hard to provide our team with the tools and support to not only adapt, but thrive in this new version of ‘normal’.
The impact of our work in 2021 – by the numbers
9,529,477
Meals provided
7,137,606
Food rescued (KG)
13,561,452
CO2 emissions saved (KG)
407,088
Revenue shared ($)
The amazing team at FoodMesh partners CityReach Food for Families with retailers so we can add quantity, quality and diversity to our food program. We just couldn’t make those connections to large retailers like Save-On-Foods and Fresh St. Market on our own. 30% of our rescued food and almost all our rescued protein is through the FoodMesh program. FoodMesh not only keeps our planet green, they are providing our guests with nutritious food as we partner to reduce food insecurity.
– Sharon Dong, CityReach Care Society, Vancouver
Impact on employees
- Introduced extended health benefits for employees
- Created a hybrid work environment and provided employees with the agency to choose where they work, based on their own comfort levels
- Introduced a ‘buddy’ program for new hires, matching them with an existing staff member to support them as they settle into their new roles
- Created daily, weekly and monthly touchpoints with the team to check in with one another on our work and wellbeing
- Launched an annual engagement survey, to gain an understanding of how employees are doing and where the opportunities for improvement are. The overall satisfaction of employees was 84%, with the following areas scoring the highest:
- We are proud to work at FoodMesh
- We have a respectful work environment
- We provide a good work-life balance
- Launched a monthly ‘Coffee Culture Club’ to create space for the team to come together and share ideas on different practices FoodMesh can adopt to help build a positive, inclusive and supportive work culture
- Hosted the first annual all-staff retreat for quality in-person team building
- Brought in an external facilitator to run a mental health workshop for the whole team, to help us learn tools and techniques to thrive in this current work environment
- Provided the full team with an Indigenous Awareness Introduction workshop to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, followed by individual and group time to reflect on our learnings
- Created and implemented a robust performance review process for the entire team
- Conducted a compensation review across the organization and made adjustments accordingly
- Hosted regular virtual happy hours, for the team to come together and enjoy informal social time and team building
- Hosted regular lunch and learns, in which different team members shared something new and interesting with their colleagues – both work and non-work related
- Formed a Health and Safety Committee, to help ensure everyone has a safe working environment – both at home and in the office
- Formed a social committee, to create regular and engaging social events and team-building activities for the team to build and maintain connections with one another
- Hosted a virtual party for the team to celebrate 10 million meals rescued by our partner organizations
- Provided each employee with an end-of-year bonus
- Launched a volunteer program, providing the team with 2 paid days per year to volunteer with organizations in our network
- Launched a “Get to know the FoodMesh team” blog series, to help our customers and partners get to know the (amazing) people who make up our team (get a sneak peek below!)
We are a grass-roots not-for-profit that works with FoodMesh to redistribute food to my clients. Our clients are so grateful to receive the high-quality foods that we distribute to them, and we witness their decrease in food insecurity. Just removing this anxiety from their life is transformative, and has allowed many of them to make positive changes in their life. The app is simple to use, and the monthly reports received from FoodMesh are so helpful in further marketing our NFP. Thank you FoodMesh for your ingenuity and forward-thinking on this common problem.
– Jolene Friesen, Swallowtail Trauma Integration Society
Impact on customers
- Helped our customers divert 7,137,606 KG of food away from waste streams
- Helped to generate positive media coverage about our customers and their outstanding food recovery efforts in both local and regional news outlets
- Celebrated our customers’ key food recovery milestones on FoodMesh’s blog and social media channels
- Launched a new brand for FoodMesh, including a new logo, typeface, colour palette and iconography, to help to elevate FoodMesh’s public image
- Launched a new website to make it as easy as possible for our partners to connect with the different ways we can work together to reduce unnecessary food waste and feed more
We are proud to have been part of the FoodMesh program for the past year providing perishable food to people in need, directly in the communities we serve. Supporting FoodMesh is something our stores and staff take very seriously, ensuring no food goes to waste.
– Mark McCurdy, Vice President Retail Operations and Brand Strategy for Fresh St. Market and IGA Stores of BC
This partnership meant that a store was not just donating to just one charity, but dozens of charities. A store could never manage that on its own […] We are all so proud of the difference we can make with this program. It’s been a great endeavour to be part of.
– Tom Truchan, Georgia Main Food Group
Impact on the environment
- We helped organizations divert 7,137,606 KG in 2021 and 14,491,973 KG since FoodMesh began
- We helped save 13,561,452 KG of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere and 27,534,749 KG since FoodMesh began
- When procuring equipment, such as office furniture or laptops, we maintain a ‘nothing new’ policy – opting for reused or refurbished items first and only buying items new when absolutely necessary
- All of the events we host are strictly zero-waste
- We provide practical tips to help our online community reduce food waste at home on the FoodMesh blog and social media channels
- We are reducing CO2 emissions by promoting a remote work environment
- Our office is located near public transport hubs so that employees can commute to work by bus or train. A number of employees bike or walk to the office
- Our holiday party Secret Santa was using regifted, thrifted or homemade items only
- Our goodie bags, which we distributed to employees for our 10 million meal celebration event, contained nothing but surplus food items. Nothing new was purchased.
Buy-Low Foods have been absolutely amazing. Without their help, there is no doubt that there would be no food bank in this community. I would never be able to provide the food that my clients so desperately need. They are an absolute godsend.
– Lisa Cardinal from Boyle Food Bank
Impact on community
- We diverted unsold food to 123 hunger-relief organizations and 194 farmers in 2021, and 1,096 indirectly
- We shared $407,088 of revenue with hunger-relief organizations in 2021, and $757,115 in total since FoodMesh began
- We have helped organizations rescue the equivalent of 9,529,477 meals in 2021, and 18,761,295 meals in total since FoodMesh began
- We celebrate and promote the great work our charity partners are doing through blog posts and social media coverage on an ongoing basis
- The FoodMesh team volunteered 39 hours in 2021 to hunger-relief organizations we work with, helping them in their work to get food to people that need it
- We hosted a raffle to give away 10 tickets to the Zero Waste Conference for hunger-relief organizations to attend
- We hosted a webinar for hunger-relief organizations in Metro Vancouver to learn more about ways that can increase their access to food donations, inviting speakers from Vancity and other food rescue service providers to provide practical tips
FoodMesh has impacted us in many good ways. We are getting more food from stores we did not get food from before. We are able to assist local farmers in feeding their animals from what is not edible from what we pick up. FoodMesh has been a good experience and we really look forward to working with them in the future.
Jim Calamunce, Executive Director of the Langley Food Bank
Impact on governance
- We completed B Corp certification process in May 2021, with an overall Impact Score of 109
- We were named ‘Best of Governance’ by B Corp
- We were nominated for the ‘Community Impact’ award in the BC Food & Beverage Awards (semi-finalist)
- We increased women in leadership roles (50% of the leadership team is female)
- The City of Richmond won the 2021 Community Project Award from The British Columbia Economic Development Association for the regional food recovery network we helped them to build
FoodMesh assists us to obtain regular food donations from our donors in a continuous and consistent basis. Out charitable activities that support senior housings, low income families, homeless, women & children shelters, church groups and local communities rely on the continuing support from FoodMesh. They certainly make a great impact on the people and communities we serve. Excellent customer service, strong support and liaison with the community. We appreciate the opportunity to cooperate with FoodMesh!
– Jeanne On, Donation Circle Society
Public benefits and disclosures
- FoodMesh is both a B Corp and a benefit corporation under British Columbia law.
- We measure out public benefit through the B Lab Impact Assessment which measures a company’s positive social impact on its stakeholders. We were certified in May 2021, and the next assessment will be in 2024.