Community Initiatives
At McLay’s, we believe in giving back to the communities we serve. From supporting local foodbanks with regular donations to partnering with schools, charities, and councils, we are committed to making a positive impact beyond our day-to-day operations. Whether it’s providing nutritious meals to those in need, contributing to local events, or backing initiatives that bring people together, our goal is to strengthen communities and support those who need it most.
Supporting Local Foodbanks & Communities
In addition to our partnership with Too Good To Go, we regularly donate food to local foodbanks, including Glasgow NW Foodbank, Food for Thought, and West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare. These contributions help provide nutritious items in emergency parcels for individuals and families facing food insecurity.
One of the biggest challenges we face as a food wholesaler is surplus produce that goes to waste due to high industry aesthetic standards – often over 300kg of perfectly good food each week. To address this, we’ve partnered with The Pyramid at Anderston, where our weekly donations of surplus and “wonky” fruit and veg are redistributed through their Community Shop, Meals, and Fridge. Together, we are doing our part to make our local food system that bit more resilient, helping local families access nutritious food while reducing unnecessary waste.
In 2025, we have also committed to making weekly donations to Launch Foods, a charity providing free meals to children in need across Glasgow.
Helping Good Causes
We regularly donate hampers, gift vouchers, and fresh produce to schools, councils, and charity events, helping promote healthy eating and supporting local causes.
In 2024, we donated £10,000 to:
- Sunshine Wishes Children’s Charity – Helping grant wishes for children with serious illnesses.
- Lambhill Stables – Helping local families enjoy Christmas.
- Little Princess Trust – Providing real hair wigs to children who have lost their hair as a result of cancer treatment.
So far in 2025…
- In September, our team organised a Charity 5K, and we donated £900 in support of Brightest Star, a charity helping families through the loss of a child.
Partnering with Councils for Better School Meals
McLays Foods provides high-quality, locally sourced meat to schools and nurseries across Scotland. All meat is traceable from UK farms meeting Quality Meat Scotland or Red Tractor standards, supporting both nutrition and sustainability in school meals.
For example, East Dunbartonshire Council’s “Food for Life Served Here” Bronze-accredited meals programme uses McLays produce, supporting both nutrition and sustainability in school catering.
Practical Support & Training
McLays Foods is proud to support our clients and the wider community with hands-on training and skills development. Recently, our Head Butcher Kevin visited Glasgow Clyde College’s Langside Campus to deliver a lamb butchery demonstration, helping students understand how to break down and prepare cuts of meat.
By sharing our expertise in this way, we aim to strengthen skills across the industry and support the next generation of chefs and food professionals.
Emergency Home Deliveries During Covid-19
During the 2020 lockdown, McLays Foods repurposed its delivery fleet to provide fresh food packs to over 6,000 vulnerable households across Glasgow, in partnership with Glasgow City Council, and the British Red Cross.
“We knew we wanted to support the national effort against Coronavirus, so we looked at how our expertise in food delivery could help vulnerable residents across Glasgow.”
