Brakes Cares – Corporate Social Responsibility

At Brakes, we really do care.  About our customers, our teams and the environment we live in.  We are extremely aware of the impact a business like ours could have on the environment and we are hugely proud of our commitment to make a difference.  In fact, one of core values is Responsibility – to our customers, colleagues, shareholders and communities.  And that’s why we’re involved in a number of initiatives to reduce our environmental impact.  We’re committed to ensuring that what we do today, supports a sustainable tomorrow.

 

In 2018  we signed up to WRAP’s UK plastic pact - becoming the first foodservice wholesaler to do so, and launched our 2ZERO20 campaign where we announced our formal plans to address the use of non-recyclable hard black plastics and our intention to eliminate the use of these plastics from all of our own brand products by the end of 2020.  Our hard work has paid off - we recently won the coveted National Recycling Award for waste reduction.

 

In addition to this, we launched a new initiative to contribute to a reduction in emissions in London with the use of a cleaner-burning, more efficient fuel, created by Shell, which is a cleaner-burning alternative to diesel for use in heavy-duty vehicles.

 

We also care about where our food comes from and how it’s been produced, which is why we offer complete traceability on all our products. We are proud to have one of the biggest ranges of responsibly sourced products in the industry. From Red Tractor accredited meat and poultry, to cage free eggs, RSPO certified sustainable palm oil and MSC certified fish and seafood.

 

And if that isn’t enough, we also have our own charity initiative – Meals and More.  Meals & More, was set up by Brakes to try to end school holiday hunger. Our aim is to help alleviate child poverty by providing tasty, nutritious food, motivating activities and a safe, supportive environment to boost health, attitude and lifetime aspirations for children of all ages from challenging backgrounds. One in every four children in the UK currently lives in poverty and does not benefit from a consistently nutritious diet. While they may have access to free school meals, they are not guaranteed evening meals nor meals outside of term time.  We created Meals & More to ensure that children do not go hungry, and in 2016, we supported 42 clubs in some of the most deprived areas of the UK, providing around 10,000 nutritious meals in the summer holidays alone to almost 2,000 children, who normally benefit from free school meals.  In August 2018, Meals and More was awarded charitable status.

 

To find out more about our commitment to sustainability visit https://www.brake.co.uk/about-us/sustainability

 

To find out more about our Meals and More Charity please visit www.mealsandmore.org.uk

 

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About us

Our business is all about four things – our Customers, our People, our Service and of course our Food.  We strive to work towards our main priorities:

 

Enrich the Customer experience

Activate the power of our People

Deliver operational excellence

Optimise the business

 

This strategy helps us to do what we do best – putting our customer first and at the heart of everything we do.

 

With a rich history spanning more than 60 years, Brakes is a well-established and renowned name in the foodservice and logistics sectors.  A lot has happened since the Brake Brothers first started supplying poultry to restaurants and pubs!  This timeline shows the key dates and events that helped us grow from a small family owned business to the multi-billion pound business we are today.

 

We’re super proud of our past and excited about the future!

 

Our History

Explore our Roles

Brakes is part of Sysco – the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food and non-food products to foodservice and hospitality companies around the world. Sysco employs over 67,000 people, serving more than 600,000 customers in 90 different countries across the globe.

 

At Brakes, we really do care.  About our customers, our teams and the environment we live in.  We are extremely aware of the impact a business like ours could have on the environment and we are hugely proud of our commitment to make a difference.  In fact, one of core values is Responsibility – to our customers, colleagues, shareholders and communities.  And that’s why we’re involved in a number of initiatives to reduce our environmental impact.  We’re committed to ensuring that what we do today, supports a sustainable tomorrow.

 

In 2018  we signed up to WRAP’s UK plastic pact - becoming the first foodservice wholesaler to do so, and launched our 2ZERO20 campaign where we announced our formal plans to address the use of non-recyclable hard black plastics and our intention to eliminate the use of these plastics from all of our own brand products by the end of 2020.  Our hard work has paid off - we recently won the coveted National Recycling Award for waste reduction.

 

In addition to this, we launched a new initiative to contribute to a reduction in emissions in London with the use of a cleaner-burning, more efficient fuel, created by Shell, which is a cleaner-burning alternative to diesel for use in heavy-duty vehicles.

 

We also care about where our food comes from and how it’s been produced, which is why we offer complete traceability on all our products. We are proud to have one of the biggest ranges of responsibly sourced products in the industry. From Red Tractor accredited meat and poultry, to cage free eggs, RSPO certified sustainable palm oil and MSC certified fish and seafood.

 

And if that isn’t enough, we also have our own charity initiative – Meals and More.  Meals & More, was set up by Brakes to try to end school holiday hunger. Our aim is to help alleviate child poverty by providing tasty, nutritious food, motivating activities and a safe, supportive environment to boost health, attitude and lifetime aspirations for children of all ages from challenging backgrounds. One in every four children in the UK currently lives in poverty and does not benefit from a consistently nutritious diet. While they may have access to free school meals, they are not guaranteed evening meals nor meals outside of term time.  We created Meals & More to ensure that children do not go hungry, and in 2016, we supported 42 clubs in some of the most deprived areas of the UK, providing around 10,000 nutritious meals in the summer holidays alone to almost 2,000 children, who normally benefit from free school meals.  In August 2018, Meals and More was awarded charitable status.

 

To find out more about our commitment to sustainability visit https://www.brake.co.uk/about-us/sustainability

 

To find out more about our Meals and More Charity please visit www.mealsandmore.org.uk