Adam Smith: Let's really feed the world

Adam Smith will talk about his journey that led to creating The Real Junk Food Project - a collaborative effort between catering professionals and activists to bring about a radical change in our food system.

Adam will address the positive environmental impact of reducing edible food waste and the clear social benefits through operating a Pay-as-you-feel (PAYF) policy. He will cover many themes including the importance of collaboration, teamwork, resilience, sustainability, mental health and getting society to think about how we value food as a resource.”

Adam Smith FRSA
Adam Smith is founder and co-director of the visionary, multi-award-winning, global initiative The Real Junk Food Project (TRJFP). Set up in 2013 to distribute edible surplus food, with an aim to revolutionise the disposal of avoidable food waste into landfill, the pioneering movement’s manifesto is to: feed bellies, not bins.

Since its inception TRJFP has have fed over 12 million people since stopped over 5,000 tons of food from becoming waste - 11.9 million meals. TRJFP has inspired more than 120 projects worldwide.

The project’s HQ is their Kindness Warehouse stocked only with intercepted food, which is open 7 days a week. The team is mainly staffed by volunteers, without whom the work across the UK would not be possible. As Covid hit, a second site was opened to run the Kindness Sharehouse: Zero Waste Shop. It sell magic boxes and Pay as You Feel surplus food. They also begun providing free food boxes to NHS staff.

A professional chef for over ten years, Adam has held a wealth of head chef positions, internationally. Whilst in Australia, Adam witnessed the scale of food waste, agriculturally and within the catering industry. Upon his return to the UK, he was inspired to set up TRJFP. Adam and TRJFP have received numerous plaudits and awards from organisations ranging from NESTA to The Observer. He has been voted one of the forty most influential men in the world by AskMen. The Telegraph Food and Drink Power List voted Adam as one of the 50th most influential people in UK Food & Drink.

Leeds Business School Guest Lecture Series
The Leeds Business School annual lecture series invites industry experts, leading business figures and entrepreneurs to speak on a range of subjects that affect businesses including leadership, marketing and finance.