Our Story
Fair Food was born from a community co-design project and has attracted many people because of our mission.
Fair Food was born from a community co-design project and has attracted many people because of our mission.
Established in 2011, Fair Food is Auckland’s first food rescue organisation based upon a collaboration between four key partners: Lifewise, MPHS Community Initiative, Auckland Council and VisionWest.
The idea of food rescue emerged from the Waitakere Wellbeing Collaboration Project under the Food Security Call to Action. Food rescue was an evolution of the original ‘Free Store Waitakere 2011’ project which proved that food insecurity was very real in West Auckland.
With the original tagline, ‘Addressing Hunger. Tackling Food Waste’ the key objectives for Fair Food were to:
Some of the original community groups that Fair Food collaborated with and still partner with today are the GlenAvon Trust, Leataata O Tapulaga, Te Ata Mental Health and Ranui Community Centre. You can find our full list of current recipients here
Free Store Waitakere 2011
Being a food rescue organisation means we supply frontline community groups with free food – were not the food bank and don’t distribute food directly to the public.
We recover, collect and redistribute surplus food seven days a week, and there is no cost to either the food donor or the recipient for our service. It’s our way to connect surplus food with those who need it most.
We’ve evolved a lot since 2011 but our purpose remains the same: ‘Share good food for all to eliminate food waste’.
This purpose also aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals to support #ZeroHunger #ResponsibleConsumption #ClimateAction #PartnershipsfortheGoals.
We aim to ‘Feed People Not Landfill’ by rescuing good quality good that would otherwise be going to waste. This food then gets re-distributed back into the community.
Based on Rosebank Road, Avondale, Fair Food recover, sort and re-distribute food to over 40+ frontline community groups across Auckland.
Our Head of Operations and Relationships Tracey Pirini was a 2023 Kiwibank New Zealand Local Hero of the Year medallist.
Check out the story here https://fairfood.org.nz/tracey-new-zealand-local-hero-of-the-year-medallist/
Fair Food were finalists at the Zero Waste Awards in 2022 for Community Collaboration
In 2021, Fair Food received a commendation for Social Impact at the Sustainable Business Awards.
In 2020, we were the Supreme Winner at the New Zealand Food Awards as well as the Greater Good food award for our response during the COVID pandemic.
Fair Food are members of the Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance (AFRA) which was formed in 2020 in recognition of the food rescue sector in New Zealand. As one of the founding members of this significant milestone, we are committed to collaborating with our partners across the sector to provide ‘food for all’.
We’re also members of the Rosebank Business Association working together with our local business partners to advocate for key issues in our area.
Every quarter, we share our highlights including metrics on how much food we’ve rescued, meals we’ve provided to the community and carbon emissions reductions. We also profile some of our key recipients and the great work they’re doing in our community.
2022 – Annual Impact Report (pdf)
2021 – Annual Impact Report (pdf)
2021 – Annual Return Summary (pdf)
2020 – Annual Return Summary (pdf)
We are a registered charity, our charity number is CC48507.
No Mum Should Go Hungry on Mother’s Day
Our wonderful Tracey Pirini has been listed as a medallist for Kiwibank’s 2023 New Zealand Local Hero of the Year.
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