Toast Brewing was founded to make beer that tastes amazing and does amazing things too. Toast upcycles leftover loaves into award-winning beer, reviving a brewing method that’s as old as beer itself. By replacing barley with bread, Toast cuts down on the land, water, and energy required in beer production, reducing carbon emissions. Food waste reduction is at the heart of their mission—one-third of food is wasted globally, and tackling this waste is one of the fastest, most equitable solutions to the climate crisis.
To date Toast has upcycled over 3.3 million slices of bread, stacking almost five times the height of Mount Everest!
But their commitment goes beyond saving surplus bread. The company donates 100% of its profits to environmental charities, contributing over £117,000 to food and environmental causes so far. Toast’s impact model is further cemented by its certifications as a B Corp and Social Enterprise, ensuring that capital gains also support a greener economy.
Objectives of the Food Heroes Fund
In 2024, Toast launched the Food Heroes Fund to support community-led projects in London focused on food resilience, nature, and wellness. The primary objective was to fund initiatives that strengthen local connections, enhance green spaces, and bring benefits to residents and wildlife. The fund provided grants of up to £1,000 for each selected project, along with publicity and volunteer support from Toast. By partnering with B Corp – ActionFunder, Toast simplified the funding process and raised awareness of ActionFunder’s platform, which connects small groups with corporate funders.
Community-led projects often face limited resources and complex applications, challenging volunteers without formal fundraising expertise. The Food Heroes Fund aimed to address these challenges by making funding accessible while showcasing the opportunities ActionFunder offers. Another goal was to share these community achievements through Toast’s social channels, inspiring more local changemakers.
Achievements and Project Highlights
Toast’s Food Heroes Fund selected four standout projects committed to sustainability, social engagement, and environmental improvement. Each project received funding and support, with Toast’s team visiting them to create shareable content, highlighting their impact:
- Forest Flora’s “Plot to Plate” Community Garden – Based in Walthamstow, Forest Flora is developing a no-waste garden, growing produce that is partly donated to a community fridge, with the rest sold to a neighbouring restaurant. Toast’s funding supported the purchase of a high-capacity composter for kitchen waste, a pond for biodiversity, and rainwater tanks for irrigation.
- Calthorpe Community Garden’s “Sprouting Good Health” – For nearly 40 years, Calthorpe has provided green spaces in Kings Cross, where few residents have gardens. With Toast’s grant, they offer workshops to 72 residents, teaching them to grow micro-vegetables using tools, trays, soil, and seeds, with waste returned to Calthorpe for composting. This model brings full-circle food production and waste reduction to the community.
- ClementJames Centre’s “Gardening Workshops” – Serving Kensington & Chelsea, one of London’s most polarised areas, the centre offers gardening workshops that foster social ties and emotional wellness. With Toast’s support, their program will help 15 individuals improve mental health and social bonds through hands-on gardening sessions in a supportive setting.
- Lower Green’s “Community Garden” – Situated in Mitcham, Lower Green has transformed an unused tarmac area into a community garden, now serving as a vibrant space for 50 residents. The funding enabled the installation of planters, hedges, and greenery, creating a thriving green space that enhances biodiversity, offers refuge to wildlife, and fosters community connection.
Sustainability and Long-Term Benefits
Sustainability was a core criterion for selecting the projects, ensuring each would have a lasting impact. Forest Flora’s Plot to Plategarden uses composting systems to process food, garden, and cardboard waste, creating a closed-loop model where compost supports the same garden that generates the waste. This reduces disposal costs, eliminates the need for plastic-sacked compost, and establishes a self-sustaining garden where volunteers learn valuable composting skills they can take into the community.
Similarly, Lower Green Community Garden has turned a barren urban area into a green space that supports biodiversity and offers locals a peaceful retreat. Green spaces like these reduce local flooding by retaining rainwater, alleviating pressure on storm drains. This model can inspire similar transformations in other urban spaces, demonstrating how communities can convert unused areas into sustainable green havens.
Both ClementJames Centre and Calthorpe Community Garden equip residents with plant-growing skills and social interaction opportunities, building resilience through lifelong skills participants can use and share. Toast’s support for local initiatives promotes small-scale environmental actions and encourages other corporations to channel resources to community groups.
The Food Heroes Fund serves as a model for supporting small-scale environmental initiatives. By showcasing these projects through Toast’s channels, the initiative inspires organisations to contribute to local actions that benefit people and nature.
Summary of Impact
Toast Brewing has demonstrated a robust commitment to community-focused change through the Food Heroes Fund. By channelling resources to food and nature projects, Toast supports greener, healthier communities across London. These projects foster a deeper understanding of sustainability among volunteers and local residents, building a stronger foundation for future environmental efforts.
Toast’s support has enabled each group to make tangible improvements, from creating biodiversity-rich gardens to teaching sustainable gardening skills. By simplifying access to funding, Toast is helping to lower barriers to local change and creating a model that inspires similar actions within the corporate and community sectors alike.
Looking Ahead
Toast Brewing is dedicated to expanding its support for community groups and hopes to inspire others to join the movement. Beyond funding, Toast aims to raise awareness of ActionFunder’s role in connecting corporations and community groups. Toast’s commitment to sustainability is visible in every pour—one that champions a greener, healthier planet, one project at a time.
