A shared purpose and practical partnership
No good food should go to waste. It’s a belief at the heart of Müller’s operations as one of the UK’s leading dairy producers. Working with highly perishable products, we are acutely aware of both the risks of food waste and the moral imperative to tackle it.
In the UK alone, 9.5 million tonnes of food are wasted each year, according to Waste Direct. Simultaneously, a staggering 9.3 million people face hunger and hardship, as reported by the Trussell Trust. But there is a solution.
In 2014, Müller began working locally with FareShare, the national network of charitable food redistributors, offering one-off donations of milk and dairy products. Over the past decade, this partnership has evolved into a national strategy that reduces waste and supports vulnerable communities. In May 2025, we celebrated donating the equivalent of over 4 million meals through FareShare.
While the number is impressive, the journey and the lessons behind it matter just as much.
Why FareShare?
For Müller, choosing FareShare wasn’t just about food redistribution. It was about shared purpose and practical partnership. Over the years, Müller we have worked with many amazing charities, but FareShare stands out for its flexibility, responsiveness and commitment.
In dairy production, last-minute changes are routine. FareShare understood this reality immediately, responding with agility and dedication. They don’t just accept donations, they co-create impact, coordinating volunteers, scaling operations and aligning with Müller’s sustainability goals.
Most importantly, they treat the partnership as a shared mission. For both organisations, it’s not about ticking boxes; it’s about delivering food with compassion and integrity to those who need it most.
Becoming a national mission
What is now a national strategy integral to Müller’s sustainability pillars began modestly, rooted in site-level connections where individual locations supported nearby FareShare centres. Over the past decade, this patchwork of goodwill has merged and evolved into something far more structured and effective.
The turning point for Müller came when we launched our sustainability action plan, in September 2023. This pivotal piece of work helped us to visualise the work that we are doing and put our collective efforts into something truly meaningful. Since then, the partnership has scaled significantly, having recently celebrated our four million meals equivalent donated, a milestone that reflects not only volume but the consistency and commitment embedded across our sites.
It was scaled with intention and only made possible by FareShare’s collaboration. They understood that to truly maximise our impact, we needed a strategic approach. This led to the creation of our own volunteering scheme, enabling UK-based employees to support the charity’s network directly.
Personally, I was deeply moved by the experience. Recently, I joined a cooking class at a secondary school where students from low income backgrounds were not only learning to cook but, for some, receiving their only meal of the day.
Hearing their stories and spending time with them, it was clear this club offered more than food; it created comfort, confidence and connection. Watching the children open up over a shared meal reminded me why our partnership with FareShare matters so deeply. That evening reignited my sense of purpose and strengthened my commitment to ensuring our teams across Müller stay actively engaged, because moments like these are only possible through our work together.
Engaging employees at every level
We have thousands of employees across the UK, each with their own personal story about the partnership with FareShare. Fundamentally, this is one of the most impactful elements of our approach, and something that we routinely monitor to make sure is working effectively, from local leads who plan volunteering activities and coordinate food donations, to quarterly Lunch and Learns. There are competitions between teams to see who did the most volunteering or cooked the most meals.
This decentralised model not only increases participation by creating a culture that encourages everyone to get involved, but it also fosters cross-functional collaboration and competition. Employees from different departments often volunteer together, strengthening internal culture while doing good externally. This local level of engagement really only succeeds due to FareShare’s national network of facilities. Because of this we aren’t tied to a specific region. The charity’s depots across the UK are inevitably close to one or more of our sites, so everyone can get involved locally.
Navigating challenges together
In any meaningful partnership, there are some hurdles to working together. One of the main hurdles that we at Müller faced is the fast-paced nature of the food industry. With complex production and distribution schedules, our donations can fluctuate weekly, monthly, even seasonally, and coordinating consistent charitable support can be complex.
Despite our robust mitigation plans, unfortunately, we don’t always have the luxury of time to counteract these challenges, this is where FareShare’s expertise steals the show.The charity has an amazing and dedicated group behind the scenes. They can think on their feet and prepare viable solutions to any donations.
- The amazing chefs at FareShare are able to prepare recommended meal plans and recipes to help food banks and homeless shelters prepare amazing and nutritious meals from the food they receive.
- The logistics teams are able to almost instantly take stock of the product they have and reorganise whole deliveries to ensure that meals are delivered on time and in date.
When working with businesses, charities need to consider how they can adapt and react quickly, to work seamlessly, not just in these moments but throughout the lifetime of the working relationship.
Lessons for charities
From working with multiple charities, I have seen the dedication that goes into making a partnership like this work. What I have learnt from this work is that charity leaders need to approach corporate relationships with both strategic thinking and emotional intelligence, building trust, staying adaptable, and consistently demonstrating the value they bring to a shared mission. So charity leaders need to:
STAY FLEXIBLE AND SOLUTION-FOCUSED. Be prepared to adapt to the changing needs and constraints of your corporate partners. Understand their operational rhythms and offer practical, timely solutions that make it easier for them to support you, even during busy or unpredictable periods.
PRIORITISE OPEN COMMUNICATIONS AND CELEBRATE WINS. Keep the conversation flowing with regular updates, feedback loops and shared success stories. Recognising milestones together not only boosts morale but also reinforces the value and visibility of the partnership.
LEVERAGE LOCAL STRENGTHS. Empower your regional teams or branches to lead local engagement. Whether you're a national or community-based charity, tapping into your location-specific assets can deepen relationships and unlock new resources. Tailor your approach to meet local business needs where possible.
CO-CREATE SHARED GOALS. Don’t just align with business objectives, help shape them. Involve corporate partners in planning and vision-setting so the relationship becomes strategic rather than transactional. When businesses see the charity as part of their broader mission, commitment and long term support are far more likely.
INVEST IN THE LONG GAME. Treat every partnership as a long term journey. Focus on building trust, learning together and growing the relationship over time. A consistent presence and long view mindset can turn one-off donations into sustained collaboration.
Blueprint for a partnership
Müller’s journey with FareShare is more than just a case study in food redistribution; it is a blueprint for what a meaningful, sustained, strategic partnership can look like. At its core, this partnership is built on trust, mutual investment, and an understanding that effective change requires both passion and structure. From local volunteers to national-level planning that ensures millions of meals don't go to waste, our work together is a testament to what is possible.
For charities looking to build strong relationships with corporate partners, the lessons are clear: be prepared to be adaptive, be strategic and be human. Understand the operational realities your partners face, invest in a long term relationship and create space where mutual learning and celebrations can thrive.
In a world where food waste and hunger coexist, solutions demand collaboration.
