That’s why we’re committed to tackling Australia’s 7.6 million tonne p.a food waste problem. Our food redistribution platform helps prevent food waste by connecting surplus food from manufacturers, to other businesses and charities that can use it. Good for business, good for people, good for the planet.

We have a vision for a world without waste. Join us.

We’re on a mission to prevent food waste.

prevent food waste

“Preventing food waste is a #1 solution for stopping the climb in emissions. It's also one of the most financially viable, with technologies and processes available today.”

Australia has a target to halve food waste by 2030.
We’re helping the industry prevent food waste so we can deliver on this goal together.

42% of Australia’s annual food waste comes directly from the commercial sector. That’s 3.2 million tonnes of food going to waste before it even makes it to supermarket shelves, let alone the homes of the people it was made for. 

We began an exploration into FMCG food manufacturers to find out what was behind this astronomical amount of waste.

It’s here we confirmed our hypothesis: one of the major culprits of commercial food waste is excess inventory management and donation processes that are high touch and do not work. 

So we worked alongside the industry, and with the support of the Atlassian Foundation, we developed a tech solution that could on one hand, improve returns and processes for excess stock, and on the other, give back to people and the planet.
By ensuring excess food is sold or donated, Yume technology empowers manufacturers to reduce food waste in their supply chain and boost their food donation programs.

When we prevent food from going to waste, we also save the water and energy used to grow and produce it. Not only that, making sure food keeps out of landfill also prevents it from becoming lethal methane emissions, which are more damaging to the atmosphere than c02.

We believe in innovative tech solutions to big problems. Shaking up inherently unsustainable systems and replacing them with new solutions, is key to having a real impact on food waste.

Yume makes up one piece of this puzzle - we’re determined to help shape food systems now, for a zero waste future.  

Yume is an accredited social enterprise committed to industry collaboration

reduce food waste Australia
Prevent food waste in Australia
prevent food waste Australia

Our founder, Katy Barfield (OAM)

Katy’s obsession with food waste prevention began when she saw the amount of food waste her kitchen produced when she owned a little bar in Melbourne 20 years ago. Campaigning to eliminate food waste ever since, Katy has harnessed her social entrepreneurship and former experience as the founding CEO of leading food rescue organisation SecondBite, to create Yume, a business-to-business tech solution.

Katy’s vision for Yume as a scalable solution, has seen the technology continuously evolve, with some of the biggest food manufacturers in Australia - Unilever, Mars Food, General Mills and other leading FMCG manufacturers - use Yume to sell and donate their surplus food.

In 2023, Katy was appointed Member of Order of Australia and has also been awarded the Banksia Sustainability Award (2020), Australian Financial Review Women of Influence for Business & Entrepreneur Award (2019), Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Award (2018) and Telstra Victorian Business Women’s For Purpose and Social Enterprise Award (2017).

prevent food waste

Our impact

  • 4,856,113 kgs

    of food redistributed to businesses & charities

  • 658,293 meals

    equivalent donated to people in need

  • 1.021 billion litres

    of embedded water in the food redistributed

  • 18.6 million kgs

    of Co2 embedded in the food redistributed