Kelvin Cheung

Kelvin Cheung, 27, is seriously interested in food. Not only did he grow up in what he says was a traditional Asian family, who based all social occasions around eating, he’s also a very keen mountain biker, so food nutrition is a priority for him. 

He feels equally passionate that other people should have access to good healthy meals too. So, when he met the founder of a US initiative called The Campus Kitchens a couple of years ago, his mind started ticking over about how he could bring something similar to the UK.

The Campus Kitchens project sees university students collect good quality, leftover food from local supermarkets and restaurants so that they can then cook it at their college kitchens for people in need.

Recycling loop

“It seemed like the perfect loop of providing nutrition to people, helping the environment by reducing food waste, and encouraging young people to be community-minded,” explains Kelvin, who grew up in Canada.

“There are four million people living in food poverty in the UK, from housebound older people, to single mothers on low-income. We also have obscene amounts of food being wasted all the time. I felt we needed something like Campus Kitchens in the UK,” explains Kevin.

At the time, he was doing a Masters in International Development at the School for Oriental and African studies in London. But after his studies and a six month volunteer placement at youth financial social enterprise Mybnk, Kelvin got his idea running.

He soon received a couple of thousand pounds from UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs, and some free office space from Mybnk. And, being a keen networker, he quickly made contact with the likes of Sainsbury’s, Budgens, Wholefoods, Planet Organic and others, who were happy to let him have their surplus food for his new venture, called FoodCycle.

In total, Kelvin and the business have received nearly £40,000 of funding since 2008, including an UnLtd Level 2 award, an UnLtd Big Challenge Award and an Arthur Guinness Fund payout.

Local hubs

It’s now two-and-a-half years since FoodCycle began and the organisation has spawned 13 ‘hubs’ around the UK where volunteers collect food from local companies (within a one mile radius) and use it to create wholesome vegetarian meals for homeless people, students and refugees. In 2010 it was crowned Charity Times’s Best New Charity of the Year.
There are four paid staff, including Kelvin (although he waited a year to earn any money) and each hub has a team of volunteers.

The entrepreneur is full of praise for the volunteers, who, between them, have put nearly 5,000 hours of work into FoodCycle since May 2009. They have served 18,000 meals and saved 7,000 tonnes of food waste.

“Each of the hubs charges what they think is manageable for their customers and any money made is put back into the business. For those most in need there is no charge,” says Kelvin.

The buzz

He works very long hours, putting a large amount of his time into FoodCycle, as well as doing some part-time work as a fitness instructor. But he says he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I wake up every morning energised. Running a social enterprise to me is like being in love, even though some people think I’m crazy or doing too much, to me it feels natural,” he enthuses.

He is ambitious about the future of FoodCycle and is also interested in setting up more social enterprises in the UK. However, at the moment Kelvin isn’t sure whether he will be allowed to stay in the UK beyond next year because he doesn’t yet have citizenship. His youth mobility visa expires at the beginning of 2012.

“I hope I get to stay because I have a lot of plans. It seems unfair that you can do so much to improve communities in the UK but possibly not be allowed to stay. A lot of people are in this situation in the UK.

“I’m remaining hopeful though because the job I do is specific to me, and that will stand in my favour. I’ve worked so hard to build FoodCycle into a powerful youth movement, and I want to be here to see it keep growing. We are already seeing such great changes in the communities we work in.”

Connect:

www.foodcycle.org.uk
twitter/foodcycle