M&S Food is expanding its partnership with surplus food app Too Good To Go to more than 350 stores across the UK, giving customers the opportunity to rescue surplus bakery products at the end of the trading day.
The national rollout follows a successful trial at a selection of M&S stores and will see Too Good To Go ‘Surprise Bags’ made available containing bakery products including pastries, cookies and bread baked in store.
Customers can reserve a Surprise Bag through the Too Good To Go app and collect it one hour before their local store closes, from Monday to Saturday. Each bag will contain three to four bakery products with a minimum retail value of £10.20, available for £3.80.
The partnership forms part of M&S Food’s wider Plan A approach to tackling food waste, with the retailer targeting a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030.
M&S says it is also working to ensure edible surplus food reaches those who need it, with more than 130 million meals having been donated through its partnership with Neighbourly.
Alongside redistribution, the retailer has introduced measures designed to prevent food from becoming waste in the first place. These include repurposing surplus bread into frozen garlic bread, selling extra-ripe bananas at reduced prices and reducing the price of unsold food towards the end of the day.
Lucinda Langton, head of sustainability at M&S Food, commented: “Too Good To Go is a brilliant example of how we’re turning our commitment to reducing food waste into practical action. By giving customers access to surprise bags of surplus bakery products, we can help ensure more of our food is enjoyed.”
Chelsea Kerr, managing director at Too Good To Go UK & Ireland, added: “Food waste is a huge challenge, but partnerships like this show how simple it can be for businesses and consumers to take action together.”
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The expansion comes against the backdrop of an estimated 10.7 million tonnes of food waste generated annually in the UK, including 6.4 million tonnes from households, according to non-government organisation Wrap.
[image credit: M&S]
