Our Story
Every year food businesses in the UK waste 3 million tonnes of food, while 13 million people struggle with food insecurity*.
In response to this we’ve created a food donation platform that enables businesses to quickly and easily post their donations of surplus food online, and for nearby charities and community groups to claim food, then pop round to collect.
Join our food donation platform today!
Our values and principles
- To inspire and never to judge or criticise
- We are non-political and represent no commercial interests
- Work together with others, not against
- We seek to listen and learn from others
- We make complex issues simpler
- We promote community building
- We develop practical solutions to practical problems
“Inspire and help connect businesses with charities to give surplus food to people who need it”
“One day no good food will go to waste and no one will have to live in food poverty”
Our history and co-founders
It started with a small group of London Citizens, voting for one project that would help us make a positive impact… Plan Zheroes won because it is a no-brainer!
Then in 2011 London Leaders elected Lotti and Plan Zheroes as one of the 15 projects to make London a more sustainable city in 2011.
The RSA Catalyst Fund was the best support to create our map, and then Keytree got involved and doing an amazing work in building our new platform and tools, all pro-bono.
Today we are a young registered Charity (C.I.O.), and we have a great board driving the transition phase.
In 2014, we have made great progress with the help from a core team of volunteers, funding from Garfield Weston, collaboration with Sustain/FoodSave and consultancy support from Cranfield Trust and Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme (Start-Up) with the School of Social Entrepreneurs.
2015, here we are with a new interactive map! Launched on the 29th January, it was created by Keytree – our fantastic IT team. Our mission now is to populate it with hundreds of new Zheroes!
Lotti
Co-Founder and inspiring instigator
Lotti is the heart and soul of Plan Zheroes. It was her experience of hunger as a refugee during WWII that led to the vision of a world where no one will be living in food poverty and no good food will be wasted and the creation of Plan Zheroes. Although now in her nineties, Lotti continues to support our work. Her unstoppable contribution happens in various ways, mostly by inspiring the team or influential leaders. She is one of our best champions… as our volunteers put it, we have “lots of Lotti power”!
Maria Ana
Co-Founder
Maria Ana Neves, MA, FRSA and FSSE is an ideas driven entrepreneurial design strategist. She is passionate for environmental and social innovation, and lectures at Central St Martins (UAL) in London. She also helps organisations and social entrepreneurs develop their innovation capability, build brands and design strategies at www.londonynot.com. Maria Ana helped set up Plan Zheroes, from idea into a fully formed charity and was our first CEO since Feb 2013 until August 2015. Her biggest dream? To live in a world without waste!
Chris Wilkie
Co-founder & Chair
After retiring from a career in broadcasting, Chris met Plan Zheroes’ co-founder Lotti Henley when they were both volunteering for London Citizens. He was amazed by her energy and enthusiasm and by her desire to do good work in the community. Together they worked on several campaigns for London Citizens, and when they met Maria Ana Neves the core Plan Zheroes team was born! From its beginning as a hopeful group of volunteers, Chris has seen Plan Zheroes grow and develop into the successful charity it is today. There is so much surplus food available – we just need to do our best to get it to those who need it!