FareShare UK has announced its merger with The Felix Project, a London-based charity that shares our mission of supporting communities, reducing food waste, and making sure good food reaches the people and organisations that can use it best.
Founded in 2016, The Felix Project works with supermarkets, wholesalers, and restaurants to redirect surplus food to charities, schools, and community groups across London. With four depots across the city and Felix’s Kitchen – which produces around 5,000 meals daily from surplus food – The Felix Project currently supports more than 1,200 organisations.
By joining forces, FareShare UK and The Felix Project are building a single organisation with greater reach, resilience, and community impact. Together, they already help over a million people each year through thousands of local charities, schools, and groups. This merger combines the strength of FareShare’s UK-wide network with The Felix Project’s innovation and energy, creating more opportunities to share resources and support communities right across the country.
The new organisation will be able to reduce duplication, streamline operations, and make every pound and every meal go further. Most importantly, it will help more communities connect with the surplus food available and use it to strengthen local projects, from community kitchens to after-school clubs.
This step is not a reset but a continuation of the work that both charities have been doing for years. What works today will continue – the community partnerships, local delivery models, and strong networks – while the merger creates space to grow and expand what’s possible together.
The merger will take place gradually over the next 12–18 months. During this period, both organisations will continue to operate under their existing names, working closely to bring their networks together.
What this means for FareShare Cymru
Here in Wales, FareShare Cymru remains an independent charity.
Our day-to-day work continues as usual:
- Delivering surplus food to community groups.
- Supporting local organisations.
- Helping reduce food waste and strengthen communities across Wales.
The services, deliveries, and support you receive from FareShare Cymru will remain unchanged.
We will continue to keep you updated as further details of the merger are announced.
Our message of support
At FareShare Cymru, we welcome this exciting development and extend our full support to our colleagues at FareShare UK and The Felix Project as they begin this journey together.
We believe this merger will bring new opportunities to unlock more surplus food, build stronger partnerships, and amplify the voice of the FareShare network at a UK level. Most importantly, it means that even more community groups, schools, and local projects will be able to access the food they need to connect people, bring them together, and make a difference.
Q&A:
FareShare UK have provided the below Q&A to explain more about the merger. For further details, please visit their website or follow them on LinkedIn, Instagram, or X/Twitter.
Why are FareShare and The Felix Project merging?
FareShare and The Felix Project are merging, uniting two leading forces in surplus food redistribution to tackle food waste across the UK. Together, we’re creating a bigger, bolder charity with one clear mission: to rescue more good food and get it to the people and places that need it most—such as families, children, and older people—strengthening communities through food.
Who is The Felix Project?
The Felix Project was started in 2016 by Justin and Jane Byam Shaw in memory of their son Felix. It has four depots in North, South, East and West London, which currently support around 1,200 community organisations and also operates Felix’s Kitchen, which uses surplus food to cook around 5,000 nutritious meals every day. It has been working with FareShare as its London delivery partner since 2020.
What’s the timeline for the merger?
The merger is a 12-18 month transition starting mid-2025, with both charities beginning integration then and the new unified organisation expected to be fully established during 2026.
What will this mean for FareShare’s network of over 8,000 charities?
In short, it will mean more food getting to people who need it. The charities we support are essential to FareShare and The Felix Project’s mission to get good food to people who need it, instead of letting it go to waste. By joining forces, we will be able to pool resources, create more collaborative and efficient ways of working, and provide the food industry with a unified approach to tackling food waste across the UK.
How will this impact the 18 network partners?
We’re still working through the details, but the network will remain at the heart of our work. The merger aims to strengthen partners, enabling them to deliver more food and achieve greater local impact, without altering the independence that makes them effective.
Who will be leading the new charity?
Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO at FareShare, will be stepping into the role of Deputy CEO. Kris has been at FareShare for over 11 years, and his expertise and relationship with the network will enable him to focus on the logistics of successfully merging the charities, supporting its growth, and connecting the network under the new identity.
Charlotte Hill, CEO of The Felix Project, will take on the role of CEO at the new charity. Charlotte has been a CEO for over 15 years, including UK-wide charities, and has led The Felix Project for the past three years. During this time, Charlotte has played an integral role in FareShare and The Felix Project’s Where’s The Food campaign, which succeeded in securing a £15 million fund from DEFRA to rescue more surplus food from farms. Charlotte will continue to be in a public-facing role and will be pivotal in building partnerships and championing the new charity’s advocacy and policy work.
Dominic Blakemore, Chair of FareShare’s board of trustees, will become Chair of the new charity, and Gavin Darby will become Deputy Chair.
What will the new charity be called?
The new charity will lead with the Felix name and will keep the signature and colour. Both charities will work together on a complete brand refresh to be launched in 2026. One of the things we have jointly recognised is the strength of the personal and moving story behind The Felix Project and the power it has to motivate support across the board. Alongside this, FareShare’s 30-year legacy of influencing the UK food industry to tackle food waste will form an integral part of the refreshed brand identity. In the meantime, both charities will continue to use their name throughout the transition period.
Will FareShare continue to campaign the Government to take action on food waste?
Absolutely! In fact, this merger will also give us a stronger voice when it comes to campaigning and influencing national policy on food waste. FareShare and The Felix Project have long collaborated on campaigning and policy, with our award-winning joint campaign Where’s The Food, which resulted in a national £15m fund to tackle food surplus on farms. Both charities have a shared commitment to advocating for Government intervention to tackle food waste.
How will my donations/fundraising be affected?
The new charity will continue to operate nationally, providing food to over 8,000 charities and supporting a million people across the UK. Your donation will still help get good-to-eat food that can’t be sold to people who need it. As a bigger, stronger organisation, we also expect to unlock more food, funding, and influence, which means your donation will go even further in supporting communities across the UK.
How can I stay updated on the latest news?
You can sign up to the FareShare UK newsletter, or follow them on LinkedIn, Instagram, or X/Twitter.