{"id":51419,"date":"2025-01-29T13:32:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T03:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/blog\/spread-some-christmas-cheer-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T15:57:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T05:57:41","slug":"bidfood-eatup-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/blog\/bidfood-eatup-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting food security: Partnering with Eat Up Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Food insecurity is one of the leading socio-economic issues affecting many people across Australia. The Foodbank Hunger Report 2024<\/em> revealed that 3.4 million Australian households ran out of food in the year prior.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Yet, despite this, support for food relief has continued to decline. While certain socio-economic groups are more vulnerable to food insecurity, circumstances can quickly change for individuals, and anyone can unexpectedly find themselves in need. This often results in children attending school without lunch.<\/p>\n

After learning that children in his hometown of Shepparton were going hungry at school, Lyndon Galea, the founder and co-CEO of Eat Up, resolved to take action. This was 2013.<\/p>\n

Since then, Eat Up Australia<\/a> has grown into a national organisation that is more relevant now than ever. \u201cWe hear directly from schools that the cost-of-living crisis is putting enormous pressure on families. If you don\u2019t pay the rent, you\u2019re out of the house. If you don\u2019t pay the electricity bill, the lights turn off. So, most often, food and groceries are cut first. Sadly, this means children are arriving at school without any food,\u201d Lyndon explained.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The real impact of this problem lies in its consequences. Research has shown that poor nutrition and hunger impair academic performance and can lead to adverse health outcomes.<\/p>\n

As a global leader in the foodservice sector, Bidfood plays a vital role in how people access food. But beyond the scope of our immediate operations, we see food security as an issue that must be addressed on a broader level. That\u2019s why when the chance arose to partner with Eat Up, we embraced this opportunity wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n

The Bidfood\/Eat Up partnership began in 2021, with home bases at the Botany, Brisbane and Perth branches \u2013 where we donate cool room space to safely store Eat Up\u2019s supplies before they are delivered to thousands of schoolchildren each week. We also donate more than 630,000 cheese slices each year and regularly organise volunteer sessions, during which our team prepares over 1,000 sandwiches per session. Through this partnership, we have helped Eat Up achieve the remarkable milestone of providing more than 3 million free lunches to students across the country.<\/p>\n

Right now, the need for these free lunches is at an all-time high. \u201cEat Up’s purpose has never been more relevant than in the past year,\u201d Mirian Dexter, co-CEO at Eat Up Australia, said. \u201cAs the effects of Australia\u2019s cost of living crisis increase, it highlights how vulnerable hungry kids are becoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

This challenge has been met head-on by the remarkable team at Eat Up. Miriam Dexter elaborated on this achievement. \u201cIn the past financial year, we have met increased demand from existing schools and added new schools into our program, delivering a 47% year-on-year increase in the number of lunches we make and deliver. We are now providing more than a million sandwiches nationally each year.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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But the real success of the Bidfood\/Eat Up partnership is all about leveraging our core business resources and capabilities. By focusing on what we do best \u2013 logistics and foodservice \u2013 we create a meaningful impact where it is needed most. This sentiment is highlighted by Eat Up. \u201cBidfood\u2019s support in providing Eat Up with cool storage space and cheese has been critical to ensuring we can meet the growing need for our lunches while keeping them fresh for hungry kids so they can learn, grow and succeed at school,\u201d Miriam graciously remarked.<\/p>\n

When a business chooses causes that resonate with its core values and strengths, it will create more meaningful contributions, build stronger community connections and reinforce the positive impact of its business practices.<\/p>\n

Nestl\u00e9\u2019s<\/a> KitKat partnership with R U OK?<\/a> is another example of how corporate social responsibility efforts are amplified when thoughtfully aligned with a business\u2019s core brand strengths. By incorporating the message \u201cHave a break and ask, \u2018Are you OK?\u2019\u201d into KitKat\u2019s existing brand messaging, this campaign encourages meaningful conversations about mental health by leveraging existing IP and a familiar product.<\/p>\n

Strategically aligning your business\u2019s strengths with impactful causes will not only drive meaningful change but may also enhance the purpose and legacy of the brand by promoting the core operations’ strengths. And any business can do it \u2013 it\u2019s as simple as reflecting on your organisation\u2019s unique capabilities and exploring partnerships that align with your values.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in supporting Eat Up Australia, head over to their website today.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Align your business’s strengths with impactful causes to drive meaningful change and enhance your brand’s legacy. Learn how EatUp Australia partners with businesses like Bidfood to combat food insecurity and provide free lunches to children in need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51419"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51449,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51419\/revisions\/51449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}