Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and Coles Group have announced that they will once again be partnering up to provide support to food relief organisation Secondbite. This initiative will see $0.10 from every CCEP-owned Mount Franklin product sold at Coles stores nationwide from now up until 30 July.
2024 marks the second year that CCEP will collaborate with Coles for the cause, with the latter having supported SecondBite’s food relief efforts since 2011. Since last year, CCEP and Coles have collectively raised $200,000 for the charity, which is enough to provide meals to one million Australians in need. This is approximately 2% of the 50 million meals provided by the charity last year.
According to CCEP Australia’s Vice President of At Home Sales Jarrad Mortimer, “CCEP has a longstanding commitment to doing what we can to give back to the community in which we operate. As many Aussies are doing it tough, we’re proud to once again partner with Coles to donate valuable funds to SecondBite to support those who need it most.”
The cause is becoming increasingly important as cost of living pressures continue to increase the number of Australian households experiencing food insecurity. According to research conducted by the Food Bank Hunger Report, 36% of Australian households experienced food insecurity in the year up to October 2023, up from 20% the year prior.
“We have seen first hand the impact cost of living is having on Australians, with demand for our support increasing,” said Daniel Moorfield, SecondBite’s CEO.
“The funds raised through the partnership with CCEP and Coles will help us provide vital food in the form of cooked meals, food hampers and community pantries at a time when our research shows Australians are needing it most.”
A non-profit organisation, SecondBite collects surplus food from growers, manufacturers and Coles supermarkets to then distribute across a network of more than 1,000 charity partners nationwide. These charities donate the food to vulnerable community sectors including homeless, families in crisis, elderly people, low-income earners, and refugees and asylum seekers.
Coles has donated more than 125 million kilograms of unsold, edible food to SecondBite since the onset of their partnership in 2011.
The $0.10 charity donation per purchase applies to all Mount Franklin products both in store and online. Donations can also be made directly to SecondBite via its website.
The ongoing partnership with SecondBite is one of Coles’ various charity initiatives, which include it recently giving away $780,000 in grants to sustainability and innovation initiatives in liquor and its beer collab to raise money for Neurone Disease research.
CCEP’s announcement of a continuation of its partnership with Coles follows on other recent announcements such as its sale of Feral Brewing and its announcement that it will no longer handle the distribution and sales of Rekorderlig Cider in Australia.
