surplus to purpose
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT | MARKETING CONSULTANCY | CONTENT CREATION | FUNDRAISING SUPPORT
ABOUT THE CLIENT
Surplus to Purpose is a social enterprise based in West Yorkshire, rescuing surplus food and redistributing it to local communities through social supermarkets, education and community support.
I started working with them in 2025 after meeting Adam in Leeds, visiting the warehouse, and getting stuck in myself packing crates and sorting stock. It didn’t take long to see both the impact they were having and the challenges they were up against.
THE CHALLENGE
Food waste isn’t always the easiest thing to market.
Warehouses aren’t polished environments, stock changes quickly, and there’s often a misconception around who social supermarkets are for. One of the biggest challenges was shifting that perception and making it clear that these spaces are accessible, welcoming and genuinely useful for a wide range of people.
On a practical level, their social media also needed to work harder. With stock constantly rotating, offers and promotions needed to be shared regularly to bring people into store and keep them coming back.
Alongside this, the organisation was under real financial pressure. Like many social enterprises, they were doing important work but needed to find ways to make it more sustainable.
THE WORK
After spending time in the Leeds warehouse and capturing content, I focused on building a more consistent and engaging social media presence that felt true to the organisation but also worked for local audiences.
This included:
creating photo and video content
promoting weekly offers and in-store updates to drive footfall
making social supermarkets feel accessible and relevant to the local community
sharing content in local Facebook groups and community spaces
building a more consistent tone and presence across platforms
While I was working with them, the team also launched two new stores in Bradford and York. This was a huge step forward, but it also meant more content, more promotion and more coordination to make sure each location was visible.
Alongside the day to day marketing, we also worked on a Crowdfunding campaign to bring in immediate income and rally community support. This involved shaping the messaging, creating content, and helping the team show the impact of their work in a way that encouraged people to get behind it.
We also started exploring longer term ideas around income generation and marketing, looking at ways to make the organisation more financially sustainable over time.
THE IMPACT
The Crowdfunding campaign raised over £17,000, with strong support from their community across Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Social media reach increased, and more importantly, it started to translate into real world impact. More people visiting stores, more awareness locally, and more surplus food being redistributed instead of going to waste.
The work also supported the team internally. Having a clearer approach to marketing and fundraising gave them a stronger foundation to build on, from future campaigns to longer term income generation ideas.
Lauren was a ‘joy’ to work with. She was engaged and being a part of the team, going above and beyond to champion our cause. Definitely recommend working with Lauren. She cares and gets involved!