With thousands of restaurants forced to close, Melbourne’s snap lockdown will devastate the city's usually vibrant hospitality scene. The lockdown is expected to cost $30 million in food waste, plus millions more in revenue-loss from cancelled reservations.   
 
Last-mile logistics company DoorDash has teamed up with Melbourne food charity, FareShare to help save excess fresh produce from being thrown away.  FareShare cooks surplus food into free, nutritious meals for people who are doing it tough. DoorDash will be working with FareShare over the lockdown period to collect and deliver any produce donations which would otherwise be going to waste and ensure it can be turned it into hearty meals for those in need.

Image: Victorian business donations of excess produce are being turned into meals for those in need. Source: FareShare x DoorDash

Toni Hetherington, Corporate Partnerships Director at FareShare said: “The snap lockdown is devasting for hospitality businesses across Melbourne and our state, particularly after the challenging year we’ve had. It’s great to be working with DoorDash to repurpose as much surplus fresh food as possible, so FareShare can cook it into free nutritious meals for Victorians doing it tough.”
 
Chase Gardner, Head of Enterprise Partnerships at DoorDash Australia said: “Melbourne restaurants have made enormous investments in preparation to cater for thousands of people this Valentine’s Day, Lunar New Year and Australian Open. Through our partnership with FareShare, we hope to lessen the damaging impact on our hospitality industry, by using our vast network of drivers to collect and deliver fresh produce, which would otherwise be thrown away.”
 
“We encourage all Victorians to get behind our local restaurants during the lockdown, and order in to ease the financial blow caused by countless cancelled reservations.”
 
DoorDash restaurant partners can donate surplus produce by completing this form. Others can donate by contacting FareShare.
 
DoorDash are also working with their network of restaurant partners to deliver orders to use up as much in-dining food as possible over the weekend, and are offering $0 delivery to customers to incentivise them to get behind our usually thriving Melbourne restaurant scene.

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