Poplar food charity Felix uses spare lorry space to cut its delivery costs

Felix, the food redistribution charity with a depot and kitchen in Poplar, has started using a new platform nicknamed “speed dating for trucks” to cut what it pays to move surplus food around London.

The charity, once known as the Felix Project, paid £5.6m last year to pick up spare food and deliver it to the community groups it backs. Food arrives at the Poplar depot throughout the day, is sorted in the warehouse and is then sent on to charities across the capital working on food poverty. Until now, Felix’s own logistics team has booked a haulier for each job and paid for the transport.

Richard Smith, its director of food innovation, said those costs could not be cut. “Without our logistics, this food would never reach the millions who need it most,” he said.

How the spare lorry space scheme works

The system uses AI to link logistics firms, retailers and manufacturers, pairing unused room on lorries with surplus food collections bound for Felix depots. At Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS), a group of major food businesses, director Nicola Robinson put the 2025 bill at £5.6m for 80,000 pallets. Three quarters of that went to third-party logistics companies, she said, and the group wanted to put spare capacity among UK road hauliers to use. The Department for Transport puts the share of HGV journeys with room to spare at about 30%.

Demand is rising at the same time. Trust for London data shows food insecurity in London has gone up by 23% over the past two years, and transport costs have also increased.

Supermarkets offer more routes and support

In an early trial with the food producer Greencore, milk now reaches the Felix depot twice a week. That single route is projected to save the charity £20,000 a year, and Greencore currently runs it free of charge. Smith said the milk goes back out to charities within 24 hours of arriving.

Sainsbury’s and the logistics provider GXO have identified 10 further routes for Felix food, with estimated savings of around £170,000 a year. Tesco, M&S and the supply chain company Gist are giving free consultancy and logistics support. AFS believes that, once the platform is scaled up, Felix could save £1m a year while cutting road miles.