Cape Town, South Africa – Food Lover’s Market, South Africa’s largest privately owned retailer, launches its second Earth Lovers Report, a powerful showcase of the retailer’s deepened commitment to sustainability and social impact, now anchored in its newly formalised purpose: Changing Lives.
The 2024/2025 edition of the report arrives not just as a document, but as a movement – capturing stories, data, and outcomes that span regenerative agriculture, food security, waste reduction, enterprise development, and colleague wellbeing. More importantly, it signals a shift from “doing good” to being a business that builds lasting change. “We’ve always believed in doing the right thing – but this year, we gave it a name,” says Brian Coppin, CEO and co-founder of Food Lover’s Market. “Changing Lives is more than our purpose; it’s our North Star. And the Earth Lovers Report is how we hold ourselves accountable to it.”
Real Impact, Real Numbers
The 2024/2025 Earth Lovers Report highlights include:
- 5 million meals funded in May 2024 alone, as part of World Hunger Month – contributing to over 23.5 million meals raised since 2016 in partnership with FoodForwardSA.
- R7 million invested in social impact and enterprise development, including the Seeds of Change alumni now supplying Food Lover’s Market stores.
- Over 5,063,702 kWh of solar power was generated in 2024, avoiding 4,572 tCO2e in emissions – up 29.9% from 2023.
- Over 1,200 colleagues directly benefited from wellness programmes while 3,405 colleagues developed their skills through training – this is a year-on-year increase of 45.5%.
Each statistic is paired with a face, a story, or a lived experience – because at Food Lover’s Market, data doesn’t live in spreadsheets; it lives in people. “This isn’t just a sustainability report,” says Andrew Millson, Managing Executive: People and Sustainability. “It’s a storybook of our journey of deepening our impact in our business, in the communities and in the world, and of what happens when you back people with purpose, and put your values into action across every part of the business.”
Purpose That Connects People
The report also captures the power of circularity – from farm to store, from store to community, from community back to land. Every act of impact is part of a larger system designed to be regenerative, inclusive, and scalable. The full Earth Lovers Report is available to the public at https://foodloversmarket.co.za/earth-lovers/sustainability-report/ , with downloadable assets, infographics, and community profiles.
