The pop up food shop where you choose how much to pay!

A Birmingham-based community interest company is continuing to provide a vital lifeline for many in Birmingham as the pandemic continues.

Incredible Surplus runs numerous pop-up shops around Birmingham and Solihull, which give shoppers the opportunity to pay what they like for food which would otherwise have gone to waste.

Surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants destined for landfill is rescued by the company, which then distributes it to good causes and individuals in need of it.

Despite Coronavirus preventing people from browsing the shelves, demand continues to soar at more than double the rate of before the pandemic for the pre-prepared bags of food which are now the order of the day.

The company, which launched in 2014, has a number of sites across the city to grow fruit and vegetables and compost its waste. It has redistributed around 2,000 tonnes of waste food and cooked and served more than 36,000 meals in what has been a monumental effort.

During the pandemic, it has also distributed food through a coalition of voluntary groups in the city known as Brum Together.

So how the pay-as-you-feel concept work?

An Incredible Surplus spokesman said: “In 2020 we decided to move away from our previous ‘The Real Junk Food Project’ label as it was frequently misunderstood and didn’t adequately describe all our activities.

“We don’t just do burgers, we also have healthy food, we grow our own at allotments and grow sites and rescue all sorts of non-food items too!”

As well as helping people’s finances, there are other factors which make the project so impressive.

The spokesman added: “The pay-as-you-feel concept offers an alternative to conventional payment systems as people can pay for what they receive by donating their cash, time or skills to the project.

“By making people think about what they wish to contribute, we aim to force society as a whole to think about how they value these resources.

“The pay-as-you-feel concept is an essential part of the project, as everything we do has value and there is value in everything.”

Incredible Surplus will be hosting numerous pop-up shops throughout the week as follows:

Mon, Dec 27 (12-2pm) – Kings Heath Community Centre, 8 Heathfield Road, B14 7DB.

Wed, Dec 29 (12-2pm) – Ladywood Health and Community Centre, St Vincent Street West, B16 8RP.

Thu, Dec 30 (10am-1pm) – Unit 58, Western Business Park, Great Western Close, Winson Green, B18 4QF.

Visit incrediblesurplus.org for more information about the project, including donating and volunteering.

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