Name
Justin Pritchard
Age
53
Job title
Head of food
Company and location
The Bread and Butter Thing, Manchester, UK
Education
BA Hons Media and Business, University of Manchester
Favourite food/drink
Food is always on my mind. It’s a real pleasure to eat every day and something I never take for granted.
If I had to pick one thing, it would be tomatoes. Whether it’s a Greek salad, a soup or a pasta dish, the depth of flavour they bring is incredible.
What inspired you to enter food and drink?
Honestly, by accident. I’d taken a career break and quickly realised that sitting still wasn’t really me. I’d heard great things about The Bread and Butter Thing so started volunteering there whilst I worked out what I might do next. Within days I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the scale, the energy, the difference it was making every week. So when a role came up, I jumped at it, and I’ve never looked back.
Spending time in our communities and hearing directly about the pressures people are under had a huge impact on me. It makes it very real, very quickly. And on the other side, the sheer amount of good food in the system that could be used to support people. Bringing together farmers, manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste and support communities is a brilliant place to be, and it’s something that genuinely makes a difference.
Tell us about your role
I love my job. It’s fast paced, constantly evolving and no two days are the same. At its core, it’s about building strong, long term partnerships and making things work in practice. That means being dynamic, thinking differently, and finding ways to simplify what can often be quite complex supply chains.
Surplus is unpredictable. It’s last minute, it doesn’t follow a neat process, and it often needs quick decisions. My role is to work across the whole system, from senior leadership teams through to factory floors, to make sure that food doesn’t go to waste and instead reaches our members. That means influencing, problem solving and sometimes challenging the way things have always been done.
What we’ve seen through partnerships with organisations like Aldi and Barfoots is that when you take a collaborative, multi charity approach, you can move more food up the food hierarchy, reduce waste significantly and deliver real social impact, while also reducing costs.
What does a typical day look like?
There isn’t really a typical day, which is part of what I enjoy. A lot of it is working closely with colleagues and partners to make sure food is collected and turned around quickly. That speed matters, particularly with short dated product.
I spend a lot of time building relationships, both with existing partners and new ones. That often means being out on site, visiting farms and factories across the country. It’s not just about taking surplus, it’s about helping partners reduce it in the long term, improve efficiency and save money. That’s where the real value is.
I’m probably a bit of a geek when it comes to this. Working through a problem with a supplier and landing a practical solution that reduces waste and gets good food to people is incredibly rewarding.
How did you get to where you are today?
I have a degree, but most of what has shaped my career has come from experience. I’ve worked across the organisation in Ops, and during our Covid campaign I managed the warehouse operation daily with 60 volunteers, packing up to 4,500 bags of shopping not only for our members but also in conjunction with Manchester City Council’s food response. That was an experience I’ll never forget.
Hard work, communication and relationships have been the biggest drivers. The industry is built on connections and trust, and there are huge opportunities if you’re willing to learn and put the time in. For people starting out, I’d always champion apprenticeships and hands on experience. There is so much to learn on the job.
When you’re having a bad day, what cheers you up?
There are always moments where you worry about supply, especially when you’re thinking about the next day and whether there will be enough food coming in.
But what consistently lifts you is the response from partners. Someone taking the time to make sure that short dated product doesn’t go to waste, or going out of their way to help, makes a huge difference.
The people across our partner organisations are incredible. They care about what they do and they understand the impact it has. That generosity and commitment always gives me a boost.
What’s your favourite part about the food sector?
The talent. It’s easy to overlook just how much skill and effort goes into feeding the country every day. Whether it’s teams in distribution centres working at pace, NPD teams developing new products, or people on factory lines producing huge volumes with consistency and care, there is a real pride in the work. I feel very lucky to see that up close.
If you could change one thing about the sector, what would it be?
Clarity and ambition in policy. There is a lot of conversation happening around agricultural policy and the food strategy, which is positive. But we need that to translate into clear direction that supports growth, resilience and better use of resources.
What’s next for you / what’s the dream?
The dream is a system where no edible food goes to waste while people are struggling to afford to eat. Policy that requires surplus to be prioritised for human consumption would be a game changer. It would unlock significant volumes of food, reduce waste across the system and make a real difference to millions of families.
But policy only works if there is infrastructure behind it. You need organisations that can move quickly, handle short dated product and deliver consistently into communities. We already know the system can do more, there is still too much good food not being donated. The opportunity now is to get ahead of policy, move faster as a sector, and show what good looks like in practice.
