A company selling cut-price food and drink coming to the end of its “best by” date hopes it has what it takes to impress Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson.

Approved Food, which is run by Skelmanthorpe man Andy Needham and his business partner Dan Cluderay, is one of 32 businesses and innovators to reach the semi-finals of Virgin Media Business competition #VOOM: Pitch to Rich 2015.

The Yorkshire-based business was one of 250 pitches which received the most public votes since the competition launched in March. In total, more than 2,500 pitches were submitted and over 550,000 votes cast.

Andy, who grew up in Lindley, and Dan are now urging supporters and customers of the Sheffield-based business to get voting in a bid to help them fulfil their dream of pitching to Virgin founder Sir Richard.

People have until June 16 to vote for their favourite pitch from the list of semi-finalists – with the top nine then pitching their business ideas at the live final on June 26 to Sir Richard, Virgin Media Business managing director Peter Kelly and a panel of judges. The winners will each get a slice of the £1m prize fund up for grabs.

Approved Food, which employs more than 50 people, specialises in selling surplus stock and products that are nearing or past the best before date. Since it was founded seven years ago, the business has saved more than 36m items from going to landfill by selling stock that is still fit to eat but may no longer be top quality.

The company sources products direct from manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors and ships consignments to customers across Europe. In 2014, it dispatched more than 9m items and is now the largest online-only retailer of short-dated and residual stock food and drinks.

To vote for the company, go to www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich/grow/approved-food-/ .

Andy and Dan are hoping for better success than they had with their appearance on TV’s Dragon’s Den earlier this year, when they failed to persuade any of the Dragons to part with £100,000 in return for a 10% stake in their business.

The winner in the Pitch to Rich competition will get £250,000 of marketing support with two runners-up getting £100,000 of marketing support.