Press Statement In Response To Barclays Food Bank Suggestion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Barclays' Food Bank Suggestion: A PR Disaster That Could Cost Charities £260 Million Daily
LONDON – February 2nd – Tastes Good Does Good condemns Barclays UK's astonishing suggestion that its 20 million customers turn to food banks during a weekend IT outage. This tone-deaf response reveals a shocking ignorance of food poverty's severity and the vital role of food banks.
"It's outrageous," says Greg Wixted, Founder and CEO of Tastes Good Does Good. "A £42.7 billion bank passing the buck to food charities is unacceptable. They're effectively taking food from the mouths of the nation's poorest families."
Directing millions to food banks for Barclays' own failings could cost charities an estimated £260 million per day, based on DWP figures. This influx would cripple already stretched resources, leading to shortages and closures, severely impacting the 7.2 million people reliant on these services.
"How will Barclays foot this £260 million daily bill?" Wixted asks. "Food banks are a lifeline, not a contingency plan for banking glitches."
Barclays' suggestion also demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of how food banks operate. Most, including those run by the Trussell Trust (with whom Barclays has a partnership), require referrals from professionals, not just a desperate customer.
"This PR nightmare risks doing more damage to Barclays' reputation than the initial IT glitch," Wixted warns. "They should apologize to food charities and commit 1% of their revenue to fighting food poverty."
Tastes Good Does Good, a purpose-driven food and hospitality group, dedicates 15% of its revenue to combating food poverty, supporting charities, and empowering entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds. They believe in putting people before profits, a stark contrast to Barclays' insensitive and irresponsible actions.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further comment or to speak to Greg Wixted please contact; Tayla Rachmann, [email protected] whats app & mobile 07753930936. Office 0208 323 1118.
ABOUT TASTES GOOD DOES GOOD
Misson and purpose focused by donating ingredients and equipment to food charities and funding incubated food ideas using 15% of their revenue. Once these ideas are up, running, growing, and cash-positive, we gift up to 75% shareholding to talented chefs and foodies from disadvantaged, have lived experiences backgrounds and the LGBTQ+ community with the condition that the businesses must always follow the same purpose-driven model. Each business gets space in his 2600 sq. ft. production facility for up to a year, along with training, mentoring, supply chain and customer access and marketing know-how.
While many founders focus on profit, they built a business that nourishes people & the planet. Their diverse, inclusive culture fuels the innovation that delivers great food, drives its donations they make & helps them stay relevant to their loyal customers. They use trends, insights, market & customer data to create new opportunities for growth. All this had led them to become the nation’s first food group to be driven by people, purpose & planet, not profit. In 2.5 yrs they created 4 growing businesses with no debt, won 12 awards, donated 4 tonnes of food & £16,000 of equipment. Gained AQA-certifying training centre status to train 4.3m kids to bake for free. Served 23,000 customers at 350 truly memorable events. Saved 1 ton of event food waste from landfill, gained Good Business Charter and Living Wage Foundation accreditation. Created a foundation entrusted with the 25% retained ownership ensures there commitments to creating a network of purpose driven food businesses in the UK and around the world.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Award-winning global food tech FMCG & food entrepreneur,
brand & and product innovator, food start-up & and venture architect
and part-time academic with over 25 years of management and leadership
experience. Over the years have created over half a billion pounds of value by
just “getting stuff done”
EXPERIENCE IN 60 SECONDS
Grew and sold my first restaurant venture at 26, spent 20 years at leading
global Advertising, Brand, Digital, and food innovation firms in leadership
roles, and managed over $100m in revenue> .unleashed a Brand Innovation
process “Rapid Entrepreneurial Innovation” to help food companies rapidly
create & test, on-trend, F2M ideas, with the quickest up and running in 8
days at the start of Covid 19 a total of 8 start-ups under my belt ventured 6
food brands and created over 50 food and hospitality products, brands and
services. Am a professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of North
Carolina, now a cookery book writer, and on my 3rd baking book!
!