Andy Needham
Owner & Managing Director, Surplus Group
Andy Needham is the Owner & Managing Director of Surplus Group, a one-stop-shop for surplus products, maximising efficiency in supply chains and diverting perfectly good food, drink, and household consumable products to where they can generate the best social or financial value.
With over 20-years of experience in the wholesale residual stock market supplying the discount and fixed price retail sector, and over 14-years’ operating an online retail business, Andy is responsible for overseeing the overall running of Surplus Group.
Previously he had a career in engineering with David Brown Gears and Brook Crompton Electric Motors before joining the family leisure park business. After undertaking an MBA he held roles in private equity with BWD Rensburg and then Murray Johnstone Private Equity before his entrepreneurial traits took over and he acquired Morris & Son in August 2003.
Helping to found Approved Food in 2009, he has added this e-commerce business to the Surplus Group stable allowing shoppers to make huge savings on big brand food and drink products either close to or past their ‘best before’ – including Nestle, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Heinz, Haribo, and Cadbury, as well as toiletries and household products – by selling them at value-for-money prices, from as low as 1p.
Through its sustainable model, the eCommerce channel benefits the environment too; to date, shipping 1.25 million orders and rescuing more than 25,000 tonnes of food and drink from landfill – equivalent to almost 60,000,000 meals.
Expertise
A keen campaigner, Andy is passionate about fighting food waste and busting common myths surrounding ‘best before’ dates and food labelling; and is a regular speaker and contributor at conferences, roundtables and seminars. Topics of expertise include:
– The importance of a sustainable business model
– How to build a business that inspires consumer change, for good
– The benefit of tackling issues higher up in the supply chain
– The cost benefits of purchasing “perfectly good” products beyond their ‘best before’ date
– How to reduce waste and practical advice on where to start
If you would like to hear from Andy or receive more information about Approved Food or Surplus Group, please email approvedfood@thephagroup.com
