Anger at Waitrose’s ‘tone deaf’ Perfect for the Foodbank promotion

Waitrose has been called “tone deaf” over its new Perfect for the Foodbank promotion.

The supermarket was criticised for describing the promotion as "perfect" after putting labels on some products encouraging people to donate them.

The Alchemic Kitchen, an organisation which recycles food, accused Waitrose of being “tone deaf to the realities of people having to access food aid”.

But the supermarket has defended itself, saying it was just suggesting items that customers could donate to in-store collection points to help those in need.

The Alchemic Kitchen North West reposted an image of the label, tweeting: "Dear @waitrose, please have a word with your in-house marketing team.

“Describing a product as “Perfect for the food bank” is at best tone deaf to the realities of people having to access food aid. Normalising this helps no one.

“Also. It’s not the product we have a problem with, veg stock is useful & this is a 'good' one but 'perfect' & 'food banks' do not go together…”

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The Alchemic Kitchen describes itself as an experimental development space that takes fresh food and surplus edibles in danger of being wasted and transforms them into new products.

It works with local farmers, growers and food producers and supports social enterprises, cooperatives and communities to develop new skills and employment opportunities.

Food poverty campaigner Jane Middleton who posted the label first, added: “Is this Waitrose’s most middle-class moment ever?

“Seriously, @waitrose⁩, if you insist on promoting food products in this way, you could at least check the list at the food bank donation point.

“I can guarantee you vegetable bouillon has never and will never be on it.”

A Waitrose spokesperson defended the Perfect for the Foodbank promotion, describing it as helping a “vital" cause.

They said: "While no one should have to use a foodbank, they provide a vital service and we're suggesting items our customers could donate to the collection points we have in our shops, should they wish.

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"We and our customers really want to make a difference and that’s why in addition to our foodbank collection points, we also make an annual donation to the Trussell Trust of over £200,000 and continue our work with Fareshare, having donated more than 14m meals worth of food to date."

Foodbanks in the Trussell Trust network distributed over 2.1 million food parcels in 2021-2022 for the first time outside of the first year of the pandemic.

It was an increase of 14% compared to the same period in the previous financial year and 832,000 of the parcels went to children.