Tafel Deutschland e.V.
Pro bono consulting on digitization
The more than 940 non-profit Tafel food banks in Germany collect surplus food and distribute it to people in need. Food distribution is the core business of the Tafels and is organized differently on a regional level. By making it possible to save money on groceries, the Tafels give those in need a modest financial breathing room. At the same time, they create a space for encounters and thus the framework for building a social network—which gives support to those affected by poverty and can help them improve their situation.
Tafel Deutschland is the umbrella organization of the German Tafeln. The non-profit association represents the interests of its members vis-à-vis politics, business, and society and supports local Tafel work with practical assistance. Every year, about 18 million tons of food end up in the trash in Germany. At the same time, many people in our society lack the money to buy food regularly and adequately. Here, the Tafeln, with their roughly 60,000 predominantly volunteer workers and about 2,000 distribution points throughout the federal territory, form the most important bridge. They rescue food, for example from supermarkets, that would otherwise end up in the trash and distribute it to people in need.
Since food donations are decreasing overall while the number of people in need continues to rise, the food banks (Tafeln) are facing additional challenges. Based on this problem, the project „Tafel macht Zukunft – gemeinsam digital“ (Food banks make the future – digital together), funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, was launched, which AdEx Partners has actively supported pro bono.
By using digital technologies, the following project goals were to be achieved:
- Digitally support and facilitate work processes at food banks (Tafeln) and food-donating companies during food collection
- Increase in the amount of rescued food
- Improved predictability and communication between the food banks as well as with the food-donating companies
- Collection and evaluation of donation-related data
- Time and cost reduction through optimized route planning
- Further development of the distribution of (major) donations among the food banks
- The platform features various tools and supports the food banks in their daily operations.
In initial workshops organized and moderated by AdEx Partners, the eco platform was developed with all stakeholders based on the design thinking approach. Since then, the project has evolved continuously, and the AdEx Partners team has provided advisory support to Tafel Deutschland e.V. in the following areas
- Project Management & Governance: We offered general project management and coordinated the „Virtual Collaboration Team.“ This included ongoing project governance, quality assurance, and risk management to ensure everything ran smoothly.
- Change Management: Our change management strategy included the development of a communication strategy, increasing acceptance for digitalization, and the roll-out of the solution to additional food bank locations.
- Stakeholder Management: We handled vendor selection and management as part of the RfP process. This included organizing and conducting workshops with all project participants, as well as strategic consulting and ongoing stakeholder mapping.
- Technical implementation: In the technical implementation, we created MVPs, offered agile coaching, and supported development, feedback, piloting, and implementation. We also took care of the acquisition and management for purchasing the hardware equipment.
Jochen Brühl, Chairperson of the Board, Tafel Deutschland e.V.: „Food banks are experts in food rescue, and AdEx Partners in digitalization. That is why we are very grateful that AdEx Partners is supporting us pro bono to digitalize food rescue and make the food banks fit for the future.“
