STORY: Kingsmill launches Slice of Kindness pledge

UK bakery brand Kingsmill has announced a major new multi-pillar pledge to make a positive difference to our local communities, the nation’s health, and the planet.   

The Kingsmill ‘Slice of Kindness’ Pledge is set to create lasting change in 2021 and beyond via the roll out of multiple new initiatives under the brand’s health, social and environmental manifesto. These include:  

·         A new relationship with Save The Children to help tackle child poverty in the UK 

·         The Kingsmill Kindness Fund - financial support to reward superstars in our communities  

·         Fibre focus - dedicated product solutions to help increase the UK’s fibre and wholegrain intakes  

·         Championing kerbside collections for bread bags and other soft plastics sooner than 2026*  

·         Packaging innovations and a recycled content first for bread bags, marking Kingsmill’s commitment to the circular economy  

The news builds on a legacy of community activity from the bakery brand, including a five-year history with FareShare. In 2020, Kingsmill donated over two million meals to the charity and communities local to its UK bakeries in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  

During last year, Kingsmill also maintained supply at 99% to all its customers, thanks to ongoing team effort across the supply chain, coming together to do their bit in feeding the nation as customers and shoppers navigated their way through testing times.   

Kingsmill is the only bread brand to carry the Carbon Trust logo and has been reducing its emissions every year for the past 11 years. The bakery is also supporting a five-year pilot project with UK farms to increase sustainable farming practices, a scheme which is run in connection with Allied Mills.  

Chris Craig, Kingsmill’s Joint Managing Director, explains: “As last year’s lockdowns showed us, a little kindness can make a big difference - and when it comes to the nation’s health, our communities, and our planet, people want actions not words.  

“We are embedding Kingsmill’s ‘Slice of Kindness’ throughout our business as a formal commitment to take our previous work to the next level with significant new initiatives.  

“We are committed to moving quickly where we can make a big difference. We are collaborating wherever possible with great fit partners including our packaging suppliers and customers to support positive change.”  

Doing right by our local communities: Save the Children and Community Support 

Kingsmill will be welcoming Save the Children as a new partner under its community pillar. The brand will support the charity to help ensure that the nation’s most disadvantaged children have access to early learning packs, supermarket vouchers and household essentials. Their shared mission is to “Power UK Families Everyday”.  

In addition to donating a minimum of £150,000 in the first year, Kingsmill will support the partnership with a 12-month sponsorship of The Simpsons on Channel 4, ad campaigns, a special charity loaf and adding the Save the Children logo to packaging and its distribution fleet. 

A Kingsmill Kindness Fund has been set up to work with local communities in parallel to this, looking to financially support and reward both ‘superstars in our neighbourhoods’ who make a difference every day, as well as Kingsmill employees who volunteer in areas close to their heart.  

Doing right by the nation’s health: product innovation and expansion 

A significant focus of product innovation by Kingsmill will be on increasing healthier choices for UK families. Kingsmill 50/50 is the top selling brand of healthier white bread, and the bakery has recently expanded its offering with the launch of its 50/50 Multi-Seed and 50/50 No Bits Multi-seed loaves, providing more sources of wholegrain and fibre which is currently lacking in many British diets. 

Mean intake of fibre among adults is 19.7g per day+, below the recommended 30 g/day. In children, mean intakes also remain below the age-adjusted recommendations for each age group.  Kingsmill’s mission is to help change this.  

Doing right by the planet: the recycling commitment 

25 million bread bags are used in the UK every week, but the majority end their life in landfill rather than being recycled. Kingsmill believes it has a role and responsibility to help change that and create a stronger circular economy for soft plastics.  

Chris Craig explains: “We really want people to know that Kingsmill bread bags are recyclable. We believe that the UK needs an infrastructure to support a sustainable plastics economy, one where recyclable plastic such as bread bags can be collected from outside people’s homes and taken for recycling.  For now, though, we urge everyone to take these bags to their nearest in-store recycling points at larger supermarkets. The more everyone uses this facility, the more recycled material there will be to use in packaging innovations that use recycled rather than virgin plastic.  

“One such innovation is a trial we’re announcing today which sees us introducing recycled content into our Kingsmill 50/50 No Crusts packaging as of this September - the first bakery brand to hit this important milestone.” 

Chris Craig concludes, “As we’ve seen over the last 18 months, we’re all at our best when we support each other. Making a difference to people in our local communities has always been important to Kingsmill and our Slice of Kindness Pledge takes this further forward to create a bigger and better impact.” 

For more information visit www.alliedbakeries.co.uk