Catering sites: What to expect

Olio partners with many catering businesses that supply food to various sites across the country. Catering sites include collections from offices, schools, event spaces, defence sites, and stadiums. As an Olio volunteer, you can collect from these sites and redistribute delicious catered food amongst your local community! 

Here are some important reminders to ensure these collections are an enjoyable and smooth process for FWHs and catering staff: 

1. Confirm you are ready for your collection in your squad chat at least one hour before your scheduled collection time:

✅ Please respond to the pre-collection check in message. If you don't get the pre-collection check in message, please type a quick message into the squad at least 1 hour ahead of your collection.

⚠️ Attendance is important at offices and canteens as they don’t have other food disposal facilities like larger stores, so it’s vital that we are able to save and list their food on Olio!   

2. Open the containers' lids when listing non-prepackaged food

It's essential that all containers are visibly open on your listing photos.

🍱 Please remove the lid of each container for the photo - even if they are transparent

📸 Display all containers collected in the photo

📅 Add a second photo showing the Use By date of the item

3. Respond to the post-collection check in message

If you don’t list next to your collection slot 1.5 hours after your collection, you will receive a post-collection check in message from Olio’s Little Helper.

Read our FAQ here on how best to respond to this message.

4. Raise recurring issues via the Issue Report Form

If you notice recurring issues within your Squad, please raise them in an Issue Report Form by tapping "Report an issue" via the My Collection Slots page on the Volunteer Hub.  

Recurring issues include:

• ⏰ Any changes to the collection process or site contact
• 📞 Unable to get through to the site with the phone number provided
• 🥝 Constantly no food available, meaning volunteers lose interest
• ⚠️Members of the squad are not engaging in the squad chat 

4. If a slot is uncovered and no one is collecting, please inform the site

With the rise in catering sites Olio collects from, since September 2023, we’re asking our amazing Squad Captains to help manage engagement. If a slot is still unassigned 1 hour before the collection, please call the site to check for surplus and inform them that no one is currently assigned. 📞 If you don’t have the site’s number, please let us know through an issue report form.

🥗 If the site confirms that there is surplus, please collect it if you’re free or post in the group chat to see if another FWH can step in to rescue it from going to waste.