Yorkshire-based surplus food redistributor opens first North East store with £4.2m funding

Surplus food and household product redistributor Company Shop has opened its first North East store in an expansion drive that could create more than 200 jobs.

The Barnsley-headquartered firm opened the 10,000 sq ft shop in Washington with the help of £4.2m funding from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

The launch is part of Company Shop’s plan to double its portfolio of UK sites. The firm will open five new superstores in the next two years, with Hull, the East Midlands and the West Midlands marked as potential locations.

Company Shop buys and sells surplus stock from retailers and manufacturers that would otherwise have gone to waste. The model enables it to pass on discounts to members and focus on sustainability by minimising food waste.

The business currently has five other stores in Wentworth, Corby, Grimsby, St Helens and Middleton. People eligible for membership include those working in food manufacturing, emergency services and the NHS.

Lloyds provided the seven-figure funding funding package through its Clean Growth Financing Initiative – a £2bn scheme introduced in May that offers discounted finance to firms investing in sustainable products and services.

Company Shop’s founder and chairman, John Marren, said: “Over the next three years, we anticipate our increasing network of stores will help us to save over 100 million units of perfectly good products from going to waste each year.

“This will support retailers and manufacturers to reach their sustainability targets while ensuring products are made available for people to use as originally intended.”

He continued: “It’s excellent that our sustainability credentials have been recognised by Lloyds Bank, allowing us to benefit from its Clean Growth Finance initiative.

“Lloyds Bank will play a key role in helping us to expand and increase our positive commercial, social and environmental impact. It helped us to launch our St Helen’s store earlier this year, followed by our latest store opening in Washington, which marks the next step of an exciting chapter in Company Shop’s 40-year history.”

Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking relationship director Mark Butterworth commented: “Company Shop is an outstanding firm with a very positive mission […] a great example of a firm that we want to support with our Clean Growth Finance, which was launched to help companies that help Britain prosper by reducing the UK’s overall impact on the environment.”