Waste is the symptom
Surplus food and food insecurity exist in the same city, at the same hour. We work on both ends.
The non-profit arm of Save a Plate
Every plate saved
gives back twice.
Save a Plate rescues surplus meals from restaurants and bakeries across the UAE. The Foundation makes sure the money that flows through it does some good too — 2% of revenue, committed to charity projects here in the Emirates.
- Scope Dubai · Abu Dhabi · Sharjah
- Basis 2% of gross revenue
- Cycle Granted quarterly
01 — Mission
Good food deserves a second chance.
So do the people going without.
The UAE throws away a striking amount of perfectly good food every day. Save a Plate exists to intercept it: a Surprise Bag from a bakery at closing time is cheaper for you, better for the restaurant, and keeps edible food out of a landfill.
But rescuing a meal and getting a meal to someone who needs one are two different problems. The Foundation is how we work on the second one. It is a standing commitment written into how the business runs, not a campaign we switch on when it suits us.
Local, not abstract
Every dirham stays in the UAE, funding organisations operating in the emirates we serve.
Structural, not optional
The 2% is set aside as revenue arrives — before costs, before margin, before anything else.
02 — The pledge
Two percent of revenue.
Not profit. Not leftovers.
For every AED 100 of revenue Save a Plate takes, AED 2 is ringfenced for charity projects in the United Arab Emirates.
We deliberately pegged the pledge to revenue rather than profit. Profit is a number a company can shape; revenue is a number it collects. Tying the commitment to the top line means it holds in a lean quarter as firmly as a strong one — a young company that pledges a share of profit can quietly pledge nothing at all.
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01
A bag is rescued
Someone reserves surplus food on Save a Plate and collects it before closing.
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02
2% is set aside
The share is calculated on gross revenue for the order and moved to a separate fund.
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03
Projects are reviewed
Registered UAE organisations apply. We assess reach, need, and cost per meal delivered.
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04
Grants are paid
Funds are disbursed quarterly and reported publicly, down to the dirham.
03 — Where it goes
Four things we fund
We fund work that puts food in front of people, and the unglamorous logistics that make that possible. Grants go to organisations licensed to operate in the UAE.
Cause area
Community kitchens
Kitchens cooking and distributing hot meals daily to low-income residents and workers. Grants cover ingredients, gas, and containers — the running costs donors rarely want to fund.
Cause area
Food bank logistics
Refrigerated transport, cold storage, and route coordination. Rescued food only helps if it can be moved safely and quickly, and the cold chain is where most surplus programmes fail.
Cause area
Worker meal programmes
Nutrition support for labour accommodation communities, with a focus on the summer months and on sustained programmes rather than one-off distributions.
Cause area
Ramadan & seasonal relief
Iftar distribution and seasonal food parcels, coordinated with organisations already embedded in the neighbourhoods they serve.
What we don't fund: political or religious campaigning, individual fundraising appeals, projects outside the UAE, or organisations without a valid licence from a UAE regulatory authority.
04 — Transparency
You should be able to check our arithmetic
First report in preparation
The Impact Report
Save a Plate is still early. Rather than publish numbers that look impressive and mean nothing, we will publish our first report at the close of our first full grant cycle — and every quarter after that.
Each report will state:
- Gross revenue for the period
- The 2% figure derived from it, in AED
- Every organisation funded, and how much each received
- What the money paid for, in the recipient's own words
- Anything unspent, and why it was carried forward
Our commitments
- Revenue, publicly stated
- We publish the revenue figure the 2% is calculated from. A percentage without a denominator is a slogan.
- Named recipients
- Every grant is attributed to a named, licensed organisation. No pooled, unattributable "programmes".
- No overhead skim
- The Foundation's own admin costs are not paid out of the 2%. They are a business expense.
- Say it when we miss
- If a cycle slips or a grant fails, that goes in the report too. A clean record every quarter would not be a believable one.
05 — Get involved
Two ways in
You run a charity or community kitchen
If you are a licensed UAE non-profit, community kitchen, or food bank working on food security, we would like to hear from you. Tell us what you do, who you reach, and what an additional dirham would buy.
- Valid UAE licence or registration
- Work delivered in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Sharjah
- A specific, costed use for the grant
You run a restaurant, bakery, or café
Listing your surplus takes minutes, recovers revenue on food you were about to bin, and feeds the 2%. Every Surprise Bag you sell contributes to the fund automatically — there is nothing extra to sign and nothing extra to pay.
- Free to list surplus food
- Pickup only — no delivery logistics
- Your contribution appears in the public report
06 — Questions
The obvious questions
Is the 2% taken from my order, on top of the price?
No. The price you pay for a Surprise Bag is the price shown. The 2% comes out of Save a Plate's own revenue — it is our contribution, not a surcharge on yours.
Why 2%? Why not more?
Because 2% of revenue is a number we can hold in every quarter, including bad ones. A larger pledge that gets suspended the first time cash is tight is worth less than a smaller one that never moves. If the business grows, the absolute figure grows with it.
Is the Foundation a separately registered entity?
The Foundation currently operates as the charitable programme of Save a Plate rather than as a separate registered entity. Grants are made to licensed UAE organisations, and the fund is accounted for separately from operating revenue. If and when it is registered independently, we will say so here.
Can I donate directly?
We are not set up to accept public donations, and we would rather point you at the organisations doing the work than sit in the middle of it. The most useful thing you can do is rescue food — it feeds the fund and keeps a meal out of a landfill at the same time.
What happens to money that isn't granted in a cycle?
It carries forward into the next cycle and is reported as such. It is never returned to operating revenue.
Rescue a plate. Fund a meal.
The simplest way to support the Foundation is to use the thing that funds it.
Browse surplus food near youDubai · Abu Dhabi · Sharjah — pickup only, no waste.