Food industry giants sign up to the Bang in Some Beans campaign aiming to double UK bean consumption

Food industry giants sign up to the Bang in Some Beans campaign aiming to double UK bean consumption and improve the nation’s health

Food industry giants have today announced they are joining the Bang in Some Beans campaign which aims to double UK bean consumption by 2028.

Led by The Food Foundation and Veg Power and funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, it aims to promote beans to the nation as nutritional powerhouses that are a delicious source of protein, fibre and micronutrients.

Today leading catering companies and food businesses including Compass Group UK&I (largest catering company in the UK), BaxterStorey and Angel Hill Food co, who are part of OCS, have announced pledges to increase their sale of beans. BaxterStorey has made the most ambitious pledge to double volume sales for all bean products over three years. 

Keen Bean Pledgers announced today:

• Angel Hill Food Co: Increase volume sales for all bean products (incl composites) by 25% by 2028
• BaxterStorey: Double volume sales for all bean products by 2028
• Compass Group UK&I: Increase the proportion of beans procured by 15% by 2028
• Field Doctor: Double volume sales for all bean products by 2028
• Finnebrogue: Double volume sales for all bean products by 2028
• Nursery Kitchen: Increase volume sales of beans by 75% by 2028
• Wahaca: Increase volume sales of bean by 10% by 2028 

Beans are currently under consumed in the UK, with the average person eating just one portion of beans a week, despite their increasingly lauded health benefits. However, this seems set to change.

With foodies, chefs and influencers putting out recipes to celebrate Fibre February, fibremaxxing trending on social media, and increased public awareness of the fact that only 4% of UK adults are eating the amount of fibre needed to keep them healthy, now is the perfect time for food businesses to announce their commitment to make beans more available and appealing to their customers.

Businesses making their pledges today are joining those who signed up when the campaign launched in November 2025, including Lidl GB, Sainsbury’s, M&S and Ocado, Bidfood, ISS, Waitrose and Harvester There are 19 Keen Bean Pledgers now signed up and a further six businesses promising to promote beans, including Samworth Bros, one of the largest manufacturers in the UK, La Bonte Catering, Honest Bean Co, Bird’s Eye, Co-op and Gosh!

News of the Keen Bean Pledgers coincides with the launch of the brand new Bang In Some Beans mini series, from the award-winning Food Foundation podcast. This six-part series is hosted by best-selling food writer and chef Melissa Hemsley and will shed light on the many ways that beans, pulses and lentils are good for health and the planet, as well as being good news for stretched family budgets.

From soy to fava, baked to black, it’s safe to say beans are having their moment of glory. Over six episodes, the podcast will explore why there’s so much innovation in beans, why athletes are all over them, and how they can even support our mental and hormonal health.

The first episode of the podcast (to go live here on Tuesday 24th February) explores what food businesses can do to promote healthy items such as beans to their customers, delving into the efforts Waitrose is putting into making beans more prominent in store while publishing a host of delicious beany recipes in their magazine, as well as the work Tesco has been doing with the foodie influencers at BOSH! in order to improve their plant based range and disrupt the ready meal category.

Rebecca Tobi, Head of Food Business Transformation says: "We are absolutely delighted to see so many businesses continuing to get involved with the Bang In Some Beans campaign and our mission to get the UK eating more beans, pulses and other legumes.

"It really feels like the bean revolution is going from strength to strength at the moment – but there’s still a way to go before we see diets shifting in the UK.

"We’d love to see more businesses and organisations supporting the UK to bang in some beans by offering more bean options in stores, venues, and restaurants across the country."

Bettina Campolucci Bordi, BaxterStorey chef partner, said: "I’ve been lucky to be part of this journey from the beginning. I’m so proud to see BaxterStorey making the Platinum Pledge for Bang in Some Beans.

"What started as an idea has grown into a movement proving that beans can be delicious, affordable, and genuinely exciting, while supporting both human and planetary health. This pledge is a powerful commitment to real change at scale.

"I’m proud of the partnership we’ve built, excited for what this unlocks next, and I hope it inspires others in our industry to follow."

Amy Teichman, Head of Nutrition at OCS, said: "We are delighted to announce that Angel Hill Food Co., the specialist catering brand of OCS, has joined the Keen Beans campaign, pledging to increase bean usage across our menus by 25% by 2028.

"Over the past year, we have prioritised increasing dietary fibre within our menu development, and this partnership allows us to build on that progress with clear intent. Beans offer versatile, nutritious options that support our health and wellbeing goals and align naturally with our Goodness range."

Nicky Martin, Director of Nutrition and Wellbeing Compass Group UK&I, said: "Increasing our procurement of beans is a meaningful step toward supporting both human and planetary health.

"Beans are rich in fibre, plant-based protein, and essential nutrients, while also having a lower environmental footprint compared to many other protein sources. This commitment reflects a smart, evidence-based approach to nutrition and sustainability."

Ian Theasby, co-founder of BOSH!, said: "British supermarkets play a huge role in feeding people. We've obviously done a lot of social media videos. We've racked up billions of views.

"We've sold over a million cookbooks. But the most important influence we can have on people's day to day lives is via the supermarkets, by helping them put plants on their plates.

"Because not everyone buys books, not everyone is on social media, but most people go to the supermarket and most people get all of their sustenance from the supermarket. So that's really important place to be, and an important place to be putting beans and plant-based food."

NOTES TO EDITORS

Please contact: Juliet Grant, Senior Communications Manager, The Food Foundation, on 07929 075489 or email juliet.grant@foodfoundation.org.uk

SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @Food_Foundation  
Instagram: food.foundation  
LinkedIn: The Food Foundation
Bluesky: The Food Foundation
TikTok: thefoodfoundation
YouTube: @foodfoundation91

About The Food Foundation
The Food Foundation is a charity working to influence food policy and business practice, shaping a sustainable food system which makes healthy diets affordable and accessible for all. We work in partnership with researchers, campaigners, community bodies, industry, investors, government and citizens to galvanise the UK’s diverse agents of change, using surprising and inventive ideas to drive fundamental shifts in our food system. These efforts are based on the continual re-evaluation of opportunities for action, building and synthesising strong evidence, convening powerful coalitions, harnessing citizens’ voices and delivering impactful communications.
Registered Charity Number 1187611.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Thanks to National Lottery players, The Food Foundation, alongside Veg Power CIC and Kent University Student Union, will encourage people across the UK to eat sustainable food sources such as beans, lentils and pulses, as a way of helping them take achievable and affordable climate action.

The project has received almost £1.4m from The National Lottery Community Fund, the UK’s largest funder of community activity, and aims to reduce the impact of diets on greenhouse gas emissions, whilst creating a long-term shift towards healthier and more sustainable dietary habits.

With the support of local and national food businesses, activities will include a digital campaign to engage the public. This grant comes from the Climate Action Fund, a £100 million commitment over 10 years from The National Lottery Community Fund to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change and involve more people in climate action.

This forms part of one of the funder’s four key missions in its 2030 strategy, ‘It starts with community’ - supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable.

On top of encouraging participation from national food businesses, other activities include a schools' programme and outreach, running student focused activities with Kent Students’ Union, and working with Birmingham City Council to activate the campaign at a local level.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY BEANS?
Our campaign refers to beans as a short-hand for talking about all pulses, beans, lentils and legumes given the limited familiarity of these terms among the public. While the public facing part of our campaign is focused on pulses, we include both pulses and other legumes within the more ambitious business commitments to our programme in order to allow for greater innovation and opportunity. Peanuts are excluded from our campaign given their nutrient profile is more in keeping with the nut category where they are typically categorised.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND
We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name. We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives. As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

• Come together
• Be environmentally sustainable
• Help children and young people thrive
• Enable people to live healthier lives. 

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4bn of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life. National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district. Website: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/

ABOUT VEG POWER
Veg Power is a not-for-profit alliance dedicated to improving children’s diet by making healthy, sustainable eating irresistible. Through collaboration, creative communications, and real-world insight Veg Power gets kids excited about fruit, vegetables and beans and empowers parents to make healthy eating easy.

Our current campaigns include:

• Eat Them to Defeat Them the multi-award winning campaign which has seen 1.8m children eating more veg.
• Growing to Love, a tomato growing project for 30,000 primary school children across the UK in partnership with Aardman Animation
• Attack the Snack to encourage children to eat more fruit and veg snacks in partnership with Netmums
  #SeasonalVeg social media influencer campaigns to increase consumption of British vegetables