Leverage Point Entertainment’s mission to turn spare crew meals into community support
When you picture a film set, food waste probably isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. But crews work long hours and need to eat well, and that means plenty of good food can end up going spare at the end of a shoot.
Through a partnership with Olio, the team at Leverage Point Entertainment (LPE) is on a mission to change that.
A sustainability agency working with the screen industries across the UK and beyond, LPE helps productions cut their carbon footprint and give back to the communities they film in. A part of that is making sure surplus on-set catering ends up on someone’s plate locally, rather than in the bin.
And that’s where Olio comes in. We sat down with Stephanie Shires, Sustainability Manager at LPE, to hear how the partnership works, the stories that have stuck with her, and why she’d give Olio an 11 out of 10.
Meet Stephanie
Stephanie Shires is the Sustainability Manager at Leverage Point Entertainment (LPE).
As Stephanie explained, “In my role as Sustainability Manager, I oversee all of our productions and work closely with the teams on the ground to make sure we’re being as sustainable as possible. This covers every area of film-making: from prep through to wrap including travel and transport, power, materials, waste, biodiversity and, of course – catering!”
Why Leverage Point Entertainment wanted to work with Olio
Stephanie came to know about Olio’s work with productions through using the app herself for many years: “From this personal use, I know firsthand how beneficial the app can be, having used it to both give away lots of items, and having received some brilliant ones too.”
“I absolutely jumped at the chance to work with Olio across our productions, knowing how much benefit it could bring to the local community whilst also avoiding the unnecessary food waste which often occurs on a film set.”
On the problems they were hoping to solve through Olio, Stephanie said: “The objectives for the Olio partnership were two-fold – firstly looking at the impact on environmental sustainability by reducing emissions from food waste, and importantly, looking at the impact from a social perspective too, by making a positive impact on the communities around us.”
Just how much food does a film set produce?
Having now worked with Olio across multiple TV productions in the UK, Stephanie explained how shocked people often are to learn how much food waste can be produced on a film set. But she shared some important context on why it’s often unavoidable.
“Crews on film sets work very long hours. So to make sure that everyone is happy and healthy, we provide two main meals a day – plus something we call ‘craft’ and ‘late break’ – a.k.a. coffee, snacks and what most people would call supper!”
And although every production tries not to produce food waste in the first place, there are inevitably some leftovers from that catering – just as they would be in traditional restaurants.
Stephanie told us: “Much like in traditional restaurants, we always have a huge range of options – so our leftover meals could be anything from oyster mushroom bao buns to a full English fry up. Not only does that mean delicious food for our crews, but also delicious food for those who are receiving it via Olio too!”
Why Olio works so well for productions
Stephanie has found the flexibility of Olio’s volunteers to work incredibly well for productions. She told us: “As our locations and times can change at short notice, being able to add last minute collections or to reorganise collection times directly with the volunteers is always a huge help. Our industry is very fast paced, and it makes our jobs a lot easier knowing that Olio can keep up.”
Olio’s approach to food safety also gets the thumbs up from Stephanie.
She said: “The other aspect that sets Olio apart, is the health and food safety training, undertaken by volunteers, meaning that once food is handed over, we know the food is kept safe until it’s handed over to the final recipients.”
Lastly, Stephanie appreciates how Olio’s impact reports provide productions with a helpful snapshot of the good they’re doing – both for local communities, and the environment:
“Being able to use the Olio dashboard to track the volume of meals donated and see an estimate of carbon emissions saved, is super helpful for our carbon footprint reporting.”
A stress-free process for production teams
Stephanie has had positive feedback from all the productions she’s worked with on Olio so far. She told us they generally “find the process to be very smooth and stress free.”
Plus, the link between having Leverage Point Entertainment as their dedicated sustainability team, combined with an Olio partnership, means that a production team can sit back and relax, knowing that surplus food collections are all in hand.
“The workflow is so smooth, and the training and reassurances provided by Olio mean that the team can be sure there will be no issues with liability and food safety concerns.”
The ripple effect that exceeded expectations
When we asked Stephanie what her favourite thing about working with Olio has been, she had this to say: “The impact we have made on the communities around our locations far exceeded my expectations. I knew Olio had an incredible impact beforehand, but the volunteers were always sharing brilliant stories with myself and the team – telling us about how grateful people in their community were, and how much they enjoyed the food!”
She loves receiving this friendly, thankful feedback from volunteers and local people.
“We always have lots of allergy friendly meals too, and these were especially gratefully received. We even had some people asking us for recipes, sending pictures of them enjoying a big family meal, and sending Christmas cards to the team! Some of those stories have really stuck with me, and I never expected that our partnership would have such a gigantic ripple effect.”
Surplus food redistribution for productions that’s constantly improving
The only issue Stephanie has come across when using Olio is the lack of volunteers in some more remote locations. But she also had this to say on the subject: “As more and more volunteers sign up and the app becomes more popular, we are finding that these areas are shrinking – which is great to see!”
Before filming, she can also consult Olio’s operations team and scope out any areas where volunteer numbers might be lower on the ground.
“It’s also brilliant that we can chat to the Olio team before a shoot and tell them our locations, allowing them to then advise us on where we may struggle to find volunteers and therefore where we need to put alternate plans in place.”
“Unsung heroes”
We asked Stephanie to sum up her experience with Olio in one word. In response, she said: “Heartwarming.”
Expanding on that, she told us: “The passion and dedication from the huge numbers of volunteers we have worked with never ceases to amaze me. It is truly heartwarming that there are so many people giving up their free time to do this amazing work. They truly are the unsung heroes, and it never fails to make me smile!”
Getting more production companies onboard the fight against food waste
When we asked Stephanie what she’d tell a production company who’s considering starting working with Olio, she had this to say: “I would say to give it a go! Each day on set when food redistribution doesn’t happen means another batch of meals going to waste, when they could instead be benefiting people in the local area.”
“Olio is a stress free way to reduce these negative impacts, while keeping pressure on the production team low. Truly the only thing productions need to do is to let the Olio team know where we will be and when, and then package up the food. It’s as easy as that!”
The verdict: 11 out of 10
And when we asked for a rating out of 10? She said: “11/10! (And not just for the Spinal Tap reference!). Olio is a brilliant resource that can be added to the toolkit of any production.”
“In the current climate, film and TV sets have so much they can offer local communities. Donating food that would otherwise be wasted is such a simple and easy way to have a hugely profound effect on people living around our locations. Beyond that, it can save tons (literally) of carbon emissions, by preventing perfectly good meals from ending up in landfill. And for productions themselves, Olio really takes the pressure off the team in terms of navigating food safety and liability issues, by providing a structured service and training.”
Got surplus food coming off your set or site? We’d love to help you get it to the people nearby who’ll make the most of it.
Talk to our team about food sharing
Get in touch with Lily Chappin (lily.chappin@olioapp.com) to learn how we could make your next shoot a zero food waste production 💪