Donating Loose Food - Guidelines for Catering Clients
Catering sites are absolutely welcome—and encouraged—to donate loose food through Olio. The process is simple and designed to be as smooth as possible, while still meeting food safety standards. Here’s how you can get started.
How should I package the food for the Food Waste Hero who will come collecting?
To make things easy for our Food Waste Heroes and ensure a safe donation process, please follow these steps when preparing food for collection:
- Portion the food into containers—either individual servings or family-sized portions, depending on your preference.
- Label each container with the name of the dish and a clear Use By date, ideally written on the lid.
- Include allergen information, which can be provided in any of the following ways:
- Write or apply an allergen label directly onto each container.
- Hand the allergen document to the Food Waste Hero at the time of collection.
- Share the allergen information with Olio in advance, and we can host it on our website.
Note: For food that is considered non-prepacked, you are only required to provide allergen information — not a full ingredients list. We've kept the process as simple as possible while ensuring compliance with food safety regulations.