How a creative partnership turned surplus berries and carrots into 20,000 drinks for people who needed them.
What do you do when you have eight tons of perfectly good berries and carrots, but nowhere for them to go? If you're a UK food rescue charity called Felix, you find a juice manufacturer and turn them into 20,000 smoothies.
That's exactly what happened when Felix, formerly FareShare and The Felix Project, teamed up with berry supplier BerryWorld, vegetable grower Strawsons, and juice manufacturer B.fresh. Together, they created Berry Heroes, a smoothie made from surplus produce that might otherwise have gone to waste. The finished drinks were distributed through Felix's network to help people experiencing food insecurity.
It's a great idea, and what makes it particularly interesting is how straightforward the solution was. Each organization already had something the others needed. They just had to figure out how to put those pieces together.
When Good Food Has Nowhere to Go
Most of us think of food waste as something that's spoiled or past its expiration date. But in the food industry, perfectly good products can end up being discarded for all kinds of reasons. Berries might not meet a retailer's size or appearance standards. Growers may harvest more than their customers need, or a shipment may have too little shelf life remaining to move through the usual distribution channels.
For food rescue organizations, this presents a challenge. Fresh produce doesn't have an unlimited shelf life, and accepting large quantities means finding somewhere to store it, transport it, and distribute it before it deteriorates.
Felix was already working with BerryWorld to rescue surplus berries, but some of the fruit was difficult to distribute in its original form. Rather than let it go to waste, the charity explored whether it could be used to make something else.
That's where the smoothie idea came in.
A Little Teamwork Goes a Long Way
The project brought together four organizations with different strengths. BerryWorld supplied surplus berries, Strawsons contributed carrots, B.fresh handled manufacturing, and Felix coordinated the effort and distribution.
After a successful trial, the partners produced 20,000 bottles of Berry Heroes smoothies using more than eight metric tons of surplus produce. The drinks had a shelf life of approximately two to three weeks, giving the charity another way to distribute nutritious food through its network.
What I like about this project is that nobody had to reinvent their business. The growers continued doing what they do best, the manufacturer used its existing processing expertise, and Felix connected the finished product with people who could use it.
It raises an interesting question for other businesses in the food industry: How many opportunities are sitting somewhere in the supply chain simply because the right partners haven't connected yet?
Food Waste Is Also a Business Problem
There's a lot of attention on the environmental impact of food waste, and for good reason. But anyone who works in food manufacturing, grocery, or food service knows there's a financial side to the issue, too.
By the time ingredients reach a manufacturer or retailer, businesses may already have invested in growing, harvesting, transportation, refrigeration, storage, and labor. When those ingredients can't be used, much of that investment is lost.
Finding another purpose for surplus ingredients won't work in every situation. Processing and transporting food costs money, and there are practical limits to what can be recovered. Still, projects like Berry Heroes show what can happen when businesses look beyond their usual options.
A grower with excess produce might not have the equipment to process it. A manufacturer might have the equipment but no access to the ingredients. And a charitable organization might have people waiting for food but lack the facilities to turn raw produce into a finished product.
Bring those three capabilities together, and suddenly there's a possibility that didn't exist before.
Making It Work Safely
Of course, there's more to a project like this than finding a creative use for extra ingredients. Food safety still has to come first.
Surplus produce must be suitable for consumption, and businesses need to consider how it's handled, stored, transported, and processed. Traceability, sanitation, labeling, and shelf life are just as important when food is being donated as they are when it's being sold.
There are also logistical questions. How quickly can the ingredients get to the manufacturer? Is there enough processing capacity? Who handles transportation and storage? And once the finished product is ready, can it reach recipients while it's still fresh?
These are familiar considerations for food manufacturers, but they become especially important when several organizations are involved. Good communication and clearly defined responsibilities can make the difference between a promising idea and a program that actually works.
A Good Idea Worth Borrowing
The Berry Heroes project isn't going to solve the world's food waste problem, but it does offer a useful example of how businesses can approach surplus ingredients differently.
Sometimes the answer isn't a new piece of technology or an expensive overhaul of operations. It may be a conversation with another business that has exactly the resources or expertise you need.
And while this project happened in the UK, the same challenges exist throughout the U.S. food industry. Growers, manufacturers, grocers, and restaurants all deal with products that are still usable but don't fit neatly into their normal operations.
Finding ways to recover that value can benefit businesses, communities, and the environment. Not every idea will be practical, but some are certainly worth exploring.
In this case, eight tons of berries and carrots found a new purpose, and 20,000 smoothies reached people who needed them. That's a pretty satisfying outcome for produce that might otherwise have been thrown away.
DiNicola Insurance Services works with food manufacturers, restaurants, and other businesses to help them manage operational risks, workplace safety, and insurance needs.
Source:Felix, "Charity rescuing even more produce with innovative new smoothie," October 5, 2026