A day in the life of a SecondBite driver

Find out what it’s like to be one of SecondBite’s hardworking truck drivers, by spending a day with Phil…

Phil has been behind the wheel of a SecondBite truck since 2018, collecting and delivering food for people in need.

Every morning, bright and early at 6:30am, he’s ready to hit the road.

Before leaving the SecondBite warehouse in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West, Phil logs into a trio of apps to inspect the truck, track collections, and map the day’s runs.

“You’ve got to check for updates—sometimes we’ve got added runs, sometimes the traffic throws a curveball,” he said.

Phil’s usual territory spans across southeast Melbourne, collecting from smaller stores, supermarkets and bustling shopping centres.

On a typical day, he might stop at up to 16 stores to collect donated produce before heading back to the SecondBite warehouse to unload.

Relationships are key, and Phil’s built plenty over the years—with produce teams and store managers.

“A lot of the time, the food’s already waiting for us, but I still make time for a quick chat—those small conversations really do make a big difference,” he explains.

Phil’s seen firsthand how a little education about SecondBite’s mission – rescuing surplus food for people facing food insecurity – can shift mindsets.

“At one store, we went from two crates to six, just by helping them understand what we do. That means more families fed.” 

Each collection is more than a pickup. Drivers inspect everything to make sure there’s no cut fruit or anything that might be cross-contaminated, and only good quality food makes it into the truck.

And it’s not just fruit and vegetables anymore. Since merging with FareShare, the SecondBite team has been picking up from more businesses and supermarkets, where they receive other goods like cereals, snacks, and frozen meats.  

SecondBite drivers now also deliver nutritious FareShare meals to charity partners, and every week Phil drops off meals made in the Abbotsford FareShare kitchen to Foothills Community Care in Ferntree Gully.

On the Road with Phil: Feeding Families, One Crate at a Time 

Phil’s not just passionate about the pick-ups—he loves the deliveries just as much. 

He describes his role in two parts: “the drivers that collect are the magpies, and the drivers that deliver are the storks.” 

When asking Phil about the best part of his job he replies: 

“Seeing the look on someone’s face when you arrive. You might only be delivering a small amount of food, but it means a lot to eat.”

So, what keeps Phil coming back? “It sounds a bit cliché, but it’s a feel-good job. You just know you’re doing something that matters.”