All journeys start with a single step. When Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien first came up with FoodCloud in 2012, they never thought it would turn into an international movement that would save millions of meals from going to waste.
The idea came about at an event in Trinity College Dublin, hoping to solve two problems with one solution: good food going to waste while communities were going hungry. If they could connect the charities with quality food, it would have a measurable impact on the communities while also solving an environmental problem.
“It was a bit of a eureka moment; in communities across Dublin at the depths of the recession, there were businesses throwing away perfectly good food, and there was community partners and charities that were really struggling to keep the doors open,” says Ward.
The first food redistribution FoodCloud officially claims was a donation from Honest 2 Goodness farmers’ market in Glasnevin to the Don Bosco Teenage Care centre.
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“The farmers’ market was delighted because they cared so much about the food, they didn’t want to see it going to waste. They made a connection with the local community group. That community group not only got to reduce its food bills but also got to create a bit of excitement and spontaneity in their day, through this food conversation and laughter,” says Ward.
“That’s when you really start seeing the additional benefits that comes from sharing food. Our mission is around strengthening communities through food, and from the very beginning, we’ve seen that.
“Afterwards we thought, if that is one donation from one farmers’ market, can you imagine what’s happening around the country?”
And so FoodCloud was born, supported by Trinity’s Launchbox programme and funding from the National Digital Research Centre and the Arthur Guinness Fund.
The big break, they say, was when Tesco came on board as a partner. That opened a lot of doors for the organisation and, like its early days, it started with a small action. One store manager took a chance on the enterprise, and convinced the company to scale it to more stores.
“Tesco was a catalyst for others to come on board,” says O’Brien. “They all could see that there was a solution here.”
Rough and ready
In the early days, it was rough and ready. At the time, it was a challenging environment for charities. Funding was being cut but need was rising, so charities were open to taking a chance on the newcomer.
“We were students with no money and no tech background,” O’Brien says. “It was a glorified group text message system.”
These days, things are more sophisticated. FoodCloud developed its own technology platform called Foodiverse, a cloud-based system that includes a smartphone app and notification system that helps co-ordinate donations of surplus food from retailers and food providers to charities and groups.
The first version was developed with the support of external software engineering expertise but, in 2015 as the initiative grew, it was brought in-house and since developed by the organisation’s own engineers.
Food matching was first come, first served but they quickly realised that the charities and food partners needed more predictability if the most was to be made of the resources. Now, charities have predefined slots, so they can organise volunteers and plan their week around the food.
“They may not know always what they’re getting and how much they’re going to get, but they do know what day and time,” says Ward.
FoodCloud now has three hubs around the State – one in Dublin, another in Galway and a third in Cork. It also works with local charities in other counties around Ireland, connecting them with food providers directly.
It has signed on some big name partners over the years, with Coca Cola, Aldi, Aviva, Musgraves and more coming on board as part of their sustainability and corporate social responsibility programmes. Each contributes in its own way; until recently, its transport partner was DHL although the organisation is currently on the hunt for a new provider.
The warehouses are staffed by a number of full-time employees who manage the drop-offs and organise surplus food into their appropriate locations, bundle allocations for the charities and facilitate pickups.
They are backed up by volunteers, both community and corporate, who do everything from assist in the warehouse to drive delivery vans. FoodCloud has become a nationwide movement.
The food sources are also growing. Even on a Friday morning, the warehouse in Tallaght is full of food. There are neatly stacked pallets of cereal – Kellogg’s Bluey-themed cereal seems to be particularly plentiful, along with Cheerios – alongside shorter shelf life items such as vegetables. Chilled food is moved quickly through its cold room storage facility: by the end of the week that is almost empty.
Milestone
The Irish non-profit reached a milestone earlier this year – 450 million meals of surplus food have been redistributed through its international network – but its founders are thinking bigger. They are aiming for one billion meals by 2030.
It has also established further initiatives, such as its Community Meals Programme.
“Charities were telling us that they were struggling to continue to provide their food service in the context of the reduction in volunteers post-Covid, increasing food safety legislation, increasing costs,” says O’Brien. “So we started our own kitchen in Clondalkin, where we prepare meals for charities.”
AIB came on board to fund the initiative. In its first 12 months, the programme served more than 5,000 meals – averaging around 100 a week.
Another new initiative, the agri-recovery Growers Project, aims to reduce food waste at farm level, with 540 food outlets donating their surplus food to 685 charities and community groups. That allows FoodCloud to put farmers in touch with local organisations through its technology platform, eliminating the need for unnecessary shipments through its warehouses.
FoodCloud’s work and the charities it partners with are not just about easing food poverty, but rather engaging with the local community. That can be anything from an after school STEM club in Dublin that provides meals to the children who attend support services, such as refugees.
“It’s more nuanced than providing food to people, it’s providing our community partners with the opportunity to do more with food,” says O’Brien. “If we can help to keep the community partners’ food costs down, they can either reach a new demographic in their community or they can provide better food service.”
The ongoing development of relationships between charities and food businesses that FoodCloud facilitates has helped charities extend their reach too. Ward highlights the positive impact it can have for elderly people in the community.
“Loneliness is such a big problem; food gives people a reason to call to somebody’s door or for them to come in to visit a centre, and it does it in a way that’s very dignified,” she says. “I think that’s something that we’ve always found our charities really prioritise.”
It’s not about just surplus food. The organisation has also taken on responsibility for administering some State-delivered food aid programmes. FoodCloud is the national partner for the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) Food and Basic Material Support programme.
The EU-funded programme, delivered by the Department of Social Protection, is aimed at helping people in poverty. FoodCloud manages the procurement, storage and distribution of non-perishable food aid – rice, pasta, canned goods, cereals, soups – to charities.
By the end of 2025, the programme had delivered about €4 million worth of product to 160 different community groups over the year.
“A lot of the people who are receiving the support might not have good cooking facilities, they might be in hotel rooms. You can cook anything here with the kettle and a microwave,” explains O’Brien.
“The charities would be coming here anyway. So, if they’re giving here for their surplus, they can come here for their European-funded products.”
FoodCloud is also taking its technology platform international, allowing beneficiary agencies to connect with food donors directly. That includes partners such as Food Bank Kenya, which uses FoodCloud’s food donation platform to connect organisations with surplus food to local communities in need, opening up new donation pathways for them that may not require the vans and warehouses – an increasingly important consideration in light of rising costs.
FoodCloud has plans to expand further in Europe and Africa, reaching more communities and rescuing surplus food from waste.
But while the organisation is giving aid, it is also learning.
The community kitchen model, for example, came about from a similar one in Australia. “It’s a symbiotic learning opportunity within that connected global community,” says O’Brien. “The pillars that we’re working towards is build it in Ireland, share it with our food bank partners globally and then grow it.
“We believe that with that kind of momentum, we’ll be able to create a really good platform that is innovating in different areas to try and make sure to rescue as much food as possible.”
