Client: Waste2Taste`

Encouraging local businesses to give surplus catering a chance

322k

total social reach

400

link clicks on paid Facebook ads

549%

increase in Instagram
organic reach (YoY)

Last year, whilst hosting a coffee morning for Oxforshire social enterprises we met the wonderful Sandra from Waste2Taste.

With the wave of a magic spoon (and a team of brilliant volunteers) Waste2Taste turn surplus ingredients into delicious catering. Last year alone they saved a whopping 5.7 tonnes of food from going to landfill. Even better? The money they make from event catering goes straight back into the community — funding free meals for those who need them most, and running regular community lunches and cooking classes.

With so much already on their plate, we agreed to help with a pro bono brief. First up: giving their social media a tasty little glow-up. We whipped up a brand-new LinkedIn page to stir up fresh business leads, and gave their Instagram and Facebook a refresh with updated bios, branded story highlights, pinned posts, and a sprinkle of brand codes for good measure.

With the foundations in place it was time to dive into a social campaign.

A Meet the Team style photo of surplus fruit and vegetables wearing waste2taste aprons.

The brief

Spread the word and serve up hot new leads across Oxfordshire.

Waste2Taste dishes out affordable, sustainable, and downright delish office catering—but too many local businesses still haven’t had a bite.

So, we rolled up our sleeves and got cooking on a plan to raise their profile and bust a few myths while we were at it.

First up: clearing up the confusion around surplus catering. Spoiler alert—it’s not sad sandwiches past their prime or veggies with an identity crisis. It’s simply perfectly good grub that’s been over-ordered by supermarkets, grocers, or restaurants. Same top-tier taste, just with a side of sustainability.

Time to put an end to all that Wasted Potential with a far reaching fame campaign.

Waste2Taste waiting to see if their surplus ingredients got the catering job.

Creativity & execution

The best way to grab business’ attention is to speak their lingo.

Narrowing the target audience down to Key decision-makers at tech, media, and creative companies we started to dig out formats that would feel familiar to them. From CVs to showreels and Linkedin profiles to ‘Meet the Team’ posts.

Using these as our guides we got to work plating up a social campaign set on showing employers that surplus food is up for the job.

With the help of a field trip to Waste2Taste’s cafe our creative team mixed up a fresh bank of content. Surplus Tomato dazzled in a showreel full of BTS snippets and best bits, whilst surplus mushroom shared a ‘job history’ and pitched skills in sustainability advocacy.

We reached out to previous customers to gather glowing testimonials for our surplus veg to ‘share on LinkedIn’ and put together team photos of all the ingredients.

The first page of a mock CV for a Surplus Mushroom.
The second page of a surplus mushrooms mock CV. Listing Work experience including 'salad ingredient' 'canape base' and 'canape topping'.
Third page of surplus mushrooms CV listing skills including collaboration, flavour innovation, sustainability advocacy, community work and adaptability.
Go on, give surplus food the job! Waste2Taste's catering helps surplus food to exceed your expectations.
Sandra from Waste2Taste as a 'food waste fairy' turning surplus food into delicious office catering.

EGC

As a brand with community at the core it made total sense for Waste2Taste to embrace EGC (Employee generated content).

Co-founder Sandra stepped into the spotlight as our resident food waste fairy, sprinkling magic (and surplus snacks) wherever she went, plus the whole team got involved hopping on social trends.

We used our own team at Bottle to capture EGC content of Waste2Taste’s catering in an office environment. Also reaching out to local creative agency Bounce to get additional photo testimonials. Having worked with Waste2Taste in the past they were all to happy to help.

blue arrow pointing left.

Tucking into the results:

We smashed our KPIs for this social campaign. Growing a vitally important audience sector to keep funding Waste2Taste’s brilliant community work.

  • 322K total social reach

  • 24K Facebook page engagements

  • 400 link clicks on paid Facebook ads

  • 549% increase in Instagram organic reach (YoY)

  • 46% increase in Instagram profile visits (YoY)

Our key take outs:

  1. If you’re a community focused brand you should be embracing EGC. It helps build brand loyalty for both existing and potential customers by helping them feel like they know and trust your company.

  2. Speak your target audience’s language if you want to get their attention. Make them feel like you’re already part of their world.

  3. A dollop of humour sticks in people’s minds. They’ll remember how a post made them feel, not what the small print said.

Looking for a touch of fame to raise your brand profile?

Let’s talk. 

hello@wearebottle.com