STORY: Wonky Bread start-up, donates 100,000 meals for charity

A young baker who set up the world’s first ‘wonky bread’ box business has donated 100,000 meals to London charities and schools in less than a year.

James Eid, 20, launched Earth &  Wheat in March with the aim of reducing food waste and redistributing the ‘eyewatering’ amount of bread which is thrown away at the point of production every day before it even reaches the supermarket shelves.

First, Eid, a fourth-generation baker, started ‘rescuing’ bread at his family’s bakery, Signature Flatbreads, which would otherwise have been binned due to their odd size or ‘wonky’ appearance.

His Earth & Wheat boxes are packed with a mixed selection of ultra-fresh ‘wonky’ crumpets, pancakes, tortillas, pittas, focaccias, flatbreads and even naan breads. Customers nationwide simply subscribe online weekly, fortnightly, every three weeks or monthly.

From the start, Eid, who is still in his final year studying business at Lancaster University, pledged to donate as many meals as possible to charities.

Now Earth & Wheat has donated the equivalent of 100,000 meals to The Felix Project – a London charity that delivers surplus food to charities and schools so they can provide healthy meals and help the most vulnerable in society.

Eid said: “Our customers or ‘wonky warriors’ as we like to call them, have supported Earth & Wheat and enabled us to donate 100,000 meals to The Felix Project, helping to combat food waste and support our community.

“We will continue to donate to food charities to help when times are tough. The great thing is our customers benefit from fresher bread whilst participating in the fight against food waste, one of the leading contributors to climate change.

“This is a major achievement at Earth & Wheat. I am extremely proud of my team, and thankful for the continued support of our customers and community.”Richard Smith, Deputy Head of Food Supply at The Felix Project, said: “The donations received make a huge difference to the 900 charities and schools that we serve and to our very own Felix’s Kitchen where the flatbreads are included in meal packages every week. Surplus food by its nature can be very inconsistent so we really appreciate the regularity of these deliveries, which allow us to cook delicious meals for families and others in need to enjoy.”

As well as rescuing bread from the family bakery, Eid, has expanded the operations at Earth & Wheat and actively onboarding independent bakeries around the UK. In November, he also launched a Vegan Broken Biscuit Box and has further plans to roll out more food ranges in 2022.

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