Author: Robin Gregson

This year, Food Waste Action Week runs from the 17th to 23rd March. First launched in 2021, it’s Britain’s largest annual food waste reduction campaign and it’s led by the international climate action group, WRAP.

WRAP has devoted a web page to the campaign, and it notes that food waste is one of the biggest contributors to climate change.

For 2025, the campaign’s focus is on fruit and vegetables and, in particular, the benefits of buying them loose, in only the quantities that customers actually need. It is an important point, and part of a wider aim to reduce food waste and packaging waste in general.

At Simply Doughnuts, we have been researching and developing innovative ways to reduce food waste since our formation in 2012. To achieve this, we have looked in particular at extending shelf-lives.

In 2021, the waste-reduction specialist Too Good To Go published research showing that “the short shelf life of products is the second highest reason for food waste, affecting a third (33%) of bakeries.” In the same year, WRAP reported that around £5.7 billion worth of food is thrown away each year in Britain due to its not being used in time.

We believe that long shelf-lives can play an important role in reducing food waste. Consequently, we remain committed to research and to finding new ways of extending the longevity of fresh food.

For more details, please see our Sustainability In Action page.

For some time now, we’ve been supporting Blackburn Food Bank with seasonal donations of food. The charity does some excellent work in our native town and we’re happy to be a supporter.

This month, we received a kind letter from the organisation, and we felt that it was worth featuring it here. It highlights its mission “to provide essential food supplies to individuals and families who are facing challenging circumstances,” and “to alleviate hunger and food insecurity in our community.”

If you would like to join us in supporting Blackburn Food Bank, please visit its website here. Your support could take the form of food or cash donations, voluntary work or a business partnership.

In December 2024, we received a request from a member of the Booker Retail team who was planning a charity fundraising event in support of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. We agreed to supply a quantity of our Classic Mini Rings and our Ring Bake doughnuts, which were duly delivered and used as prizes in a tombola.

The event took place in the week commencing 9th December and was a great success. One of the organisers, Laura, said that it had been extremely popular – so much so that the team managed to clear all the prizes within just two days, rather than the whole week that was originally planned.

She added that the team “got some very good feedback on the doughnuts… especially the Classic Mini Rings. Everyone seemed to really enjoy them!”

Anyone wishing to support the fundraising campaign can donate directly via a JustGiving page set up by Booker Retail.

This donation was just one of several that Simply Doughnuts has made over the course of December. We have also provided doughnuts to local food banks and to The Scottish Grocer Food Collection Campaign, which is distributing food over Christmas in association with FareShare, the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger and food waste.

Above: Blackburn Food Bank collection from the Simply Doughnuts factory. Our staff (Amirah Patel, centre, and Evita Dambrauska, right) organised the donation of Ring Bake doughnuts.

In December 2024, following a site inspection and audit , BRC Global Standards renewed its AA certification grade for Simply Doughnuts.

We have maintained this top-rated grade since 2018. Before then, we held SALSA accreditation.

Founded in the UK, BRCGS notes that its “Global Food Safety Standard has set the benchmark for nearly 25 years… (and) is the most widely accepted food safety standard in the world.

“Developed with input from industry, it provides a framework to manage product safety, integrity, legality and quality, and the operational controls for these criteria in the food and food ingredient manufacturing, processing and packing industry.”

Over recent years, BRCGS has made occasional unannounced inspection visits, on the strength of which we have also achieved the top grade. However, in such cases, the grade is shown as AA+ to indicate that the audit was not pre-arranged. Consequently, depending on the most recent inspection, we will sometimes report our grade as AA (as per December’s result) and sometimes as AA+.

In response to the award notification, our chair Mike Wilson said: “This is another fantastic achievement by the Simply Doughnuts team. It has come at the end of what has been a fabulous year for us, with so many highlights. We have also laid some great foundations that will enable us to carry on building the business next year. We’re all looking forward to the challenges and the opportunities ahead.”

We’re delighted to report that Simply Doughnuts is a finalist in the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards for 2025. We have been shortlisted in the ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ category.

The judges’ announcement follows an award submission earlier in the year, and an interview with the company directors, who told the judging panel more about our efforts and progress over the last year. Briefly, key achievements have included:

• Sales growth in both our UK and export markets
• The successful roll-out of our Ring Bake Doughnuts
• R&D to enable the Ring Bakes to be refrigerated without hardening, enabling their use in ‘meal deals’
• Continuing investment in spares and additional capacity
• Further year-on-year waste reductions
• Retention of our AA+ rating by BRC Global Standards

The full list of finalists can be seen on the FMEA website.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony itself, which will take place on Thursday 6^th February at the London Hilton Bankside.

We were contacted recently by St Gabriel’s CE Primary School in Blackburn. Its year 6 pupils were planning to put on a school production, which would also include activities to raise funds for microphone headsets, lighting, and building a new school garden.

We were happy to help and duly supplied some of our Ring Bake doughnuts to help with the children’s efforts. These were sold and used as raffle prizes, helping the school towards its target.