Sophie Tebbetts is taking the helm at FoodCycle during a period of significant growth.
Tebbetts, who has been head of programmes at the charity since 2016, will become the chief executive in January 2024, taking over from Mary McGrath who is leaving after a decade in the role.
FoodCycle provides communal three-course meals for people at risk of food poverty and social isolation. It has been opening around 20 centres, or “projects”, annually in recent years, with an aim to reach 100 by 2024.
The charity has seen a 59% increase in members for its public dining over the past year at its 75 community sites across the country.
Tebbetts says the charity’s growth is “bittersweet”, with its services becoming more accessible but under increasing demand during the cost-of-living crisis.
“It’s amazing that we are able to meet that need, and to meet that growth. But obviously, it is a key indicator that that need isn’t being met and the need is there for our type of service. So, we’re trying to do more and help more but it’s always sad to see that that amount of growth is needed.”
‘I saw the benefit of doing good where you live’
Food has always been a passion for Tebbetts, who grew up in a “busy, full household” in Essex as one of six children.
“I was often cooking for my family. I was the chef of the household so food’s always played a really central role in my life.”
Tebbetts’s family’s income was “in flux” during her childhood and was supported by state benefits, which she says “started my interest in working with others and helping others”.
She worked in kitchens while studying anthropology at university before doing a part-time master’s degree in international development in Edinburgh. While there, she worked for the British Red Cross in a role supporting volunteers.
After studying, Tebbetts put her qualifications into practice working at the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Jordan. However, she felt “very separate from what we were doing”.
“I was very aware that this wasn’t my country, and this wasn’t my culture. And there were people probably better placed with more nuanced understanding. And I really saw the benefit of actually doing good where you live. And that drew me back to the UK to do that more tangible work.”
Tebbetts worked for education charity Teach First for a year before returning to her passion for food. She set up her own catering company, Salad Days Events, with a friend in east London, providing “nutritious, healthy food” for office workers at companies including Uber and Nike.
‘I have a big drive for doing more’
When the opportunity to become FoodCycle’s head of programmes came up in 2016, Tebbetts says “it felt like fate”.
“It was both my skill sets from working in the charity sector and then working in kitchens. And so I thought, yeah, I can really add value here.”
FoodCycle employed nine people when Tebbetts joined but it now has more than 40 staff, and she is keen to help the charity grow further as CEO.
“I have a big drive for doing more, and helping more, and reaching more, and I think that’s what I’m excited about taking on this role.”
Befriending service launch
In March 2020, as the UK entered its first Covid-19 lockdown, FoodCycle closed for two weeks to reassess how it would continue to deliver services.
Unable to provide its usual community dining experiences, the charity switched to a food delivery service, providing around 68,000 meals this way during the pandemic.
It also launched a befriending service called Check-in and Chat, in which volunteers called people who had been dining with the charity. Tebbetts says this programme was so successful it has continued to offer it since pandemic restrictions lifted.
“We were able to deliver the food side but we were very conscious about the social connection side because a big part of our meals is sitting down and chatting together,” she says.
“So, we launched Check-in and Chat. And we’ve been calling people from that service every week for almost two years, some of them, and it means so much to them.”
‘Our volunteer teams are amazing’
FoodCycle differentiates itself from foodbank charities such as the Trussell Trust, which sees its network as responding to hunger and poverty and ultimately aims to end the need for its services.
“Our argument is that even if we solved hunger, food waste, and loneliness, there would still be space for community dining,” says Tebbetts.
Nevertheless, the charity does serve people living in poverty and Tebbetts says it is feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis “quite acutely at our projects”.
Tebbetts says the charity’s workforce of around 5,500 volunteers has been affected by inflation as well.
“In our last volunteer survey, 10% of our volunteers volunteered with us so that they could get a free meal. So, we’re also seeing the need increase from our volunteers for why people are getting involved in volunteering.”
Earlier this summer, the charity put out a call to recruit 4,000 more volunteers to meet the growing need for services during a period when recruitment has become harder.
“During summer, we will have cancellations and we will have times where we won’t be able to operate the service because we don’t have the volunteers that we need,” she says.
“Our volunteer teams are amazing. And if you go to one of our projects and say: ‘Look, guys, I think we’re going to cancel', they will do everything in their power to try and avoid that. And they will put in staff resources and things but yes, on occasion, it definitely does happen.”
‘I don’t presume I have all the answers’
At 33, Tebbetts will be a relatively young charity CEO when she takes up the role in January. She says she is “excited” by the prospect and that it feels “like a natural step”.
“I’m pretty young but I think that means that I’ve got fresh ideas. I’m always looking for new innovations but I’m also happy to listen and be open to others’ experience, which I think helps strengthen myself. I don’t presume I have all the answers but it’s about being surrounded by people and a really strong team to help influence and shape what we do and how we do it. So, I think it’s an advantage. Of course, I would say that.”
Tebbetts wants to continue her predecessor’s work to grow the charity. “One thing that Mary has done really well, and I hope to continue, is that we’re always striving to do more, and there’s so much opportunity, and there’s so much potential that is still untapped for us.”
She says her ultimate aim as CEO would be “to put community dining on the map”.
“When you say food bank, everyone knows what a food bank is, how it works, that sort of thing. Community dining, I think, is a looser concept. Once you explain it, they get it. But it’s not at the forefront in terms of how we can support communities around the UK and how we can build in that resilience.
“That would be my aim: to really raise that profile and raise that impetus to put that into different communities across the UK that this is a central thing to do a lot of good for a lot of people.”
