WHO WE ARE
Yume was founded in 2016 by food waste expert, Katy Barfield, after she witnessed the enormous amount of edible food wasted in the commercial food sector and resolved to do something about it.
The existing food supply system in Australia means that 7.3 million tonnes of food is discarded each year. 55% of it occurs in the commercial food sector – at farms, food manufacturers and wholesalers – before it reaches supermarkets or our homes. That’s the uncomfortable truth of food waste.
And it’s not just about the food. More than a quarter of the water exploited globally is used to grow 1.3 trillion kilograms of food that no one will ever eat. Plus, when surplus food ends up in landfill, it creates 25 times more deadly gas than car exhaust. Our planet simply can’t absorb this anymore.
Yume is the answer to this broken system. We work closely with manufacturers and primary producers, to understand their surplus food challenges, developing new and safe paths to market for their products via our B2B online marketplace. We deliver improved business performance and sustainability for both our suppliers and buyers.
Already, Yume has sold over 2,087 tonnes of quality surplus food, returning over $6.5 million to Australian farmers and manufacturers. We have saved over 144 million litres of water and prevented more than 4,175 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released.
To achieve these results, we have collaborated with hundreds of leading food manufacturers and buyers such as Unilever, Kellogg’s, Sodexo and Accor Hotels. Today, we are an award-winning, robust social enterprise and one of only three companies globally using technology to offer an innovative market for surplus food.
Yume loves food and you can feel that passion in everything we do.
We affect change by inspiring and leading businesses with a philosophy that, only through collaboration and a whole-of-industry and government approach, will we be able to transform our industry, realising the many untapped economic and environmental benefits.
Join our community of food champions.