Blakemore Retail has signed up all 275 of its Spar stores across England and Wales to anti-food-waste app, Too Good To Go, following earlier trials.
The app allows consumers to buy still-fresh but short-dated food that would otherwise be thrown away by restaurants and retailers.
The convenience retail arm of the multifaceted AF Blakemore & Son first partnered with the food-waste-fighting platform in January 2020, adding 15 stores to the app. In June 2020 the business registered a further 43 stores on the app, and it has now completed full store network roll-out.
Towards the end of each day, the Spar stores will make up ‘Magic Bags’ of surplus fresh food, which Too Good To Go’s app users can then purchase for around a third of the typical price.
Blakemore Retail managing director, Matt Teague, commented: “At Blakemore Retail we’re dedicated to reducing our food waste, and this app is a great way to help us on our mission to achieve this.
“The app enables customers to get some fantastic deals at the same time as encouraging them to try new products that they might not usually buy as part of their regular shop.”
He added: “The bags have proved very popular with shoppers, and since registering our first stores on the app we have saved an incredible 17,400 bags of food from going to waste.”
Each ‘Magic Bag’ contains food worth a minimum of £10 at full retail price, but is sold to customers for £3.09. The bags can include groceries, fruit, vegetables, baked goods, sandwiches, cakes, meats, pizzas, ready meals and sweet treats.
After placing an order for a ‘Magic Bag’ and paying for it on the app, customers can collect their bag at the allocated time from their chosen Spar store.
Retailers including Morrisons, Costa Coffee, and Caffe Nero work with Too Good To Go.
The subject of food waste prevention will be high on the agenda next month, as not-for-profit organisation Wrap runs its inaugural Food Waste Action Week, between 1-7 March. The key message will be that wasted food feeds climate change, and Wrap will be looking to raise awareness of the problem while engaging retailers, brands and other groups to address the issue within their organisations.
[Image credit: Blakemore Retail/Spar]
