Blakemore Retail has signed up all 275 of its SPAR convenience stores across England and Wales to the Too Good To Go app.
The convenience retailer first partnered with the food-waste-fighting platform in January 2020, when it began a trial with 15 stores. In June 2020 the business registered a further 43 stores on the platform, and on 22nd February this week it completed its rollout.
The Too Good To Go app launched in the UK in 2016 to help tackle the 10 million tonnes of food wasted each year by saving fresh and short-dated meals and products thrown away by restaurants and retailers. Towards the end of each day, SPAR stores make up ‘Magic Bags’ of surplus fresh food, which Too Good To Go’s app users can then purchase for a great price.
Blakemore Retail Managing Director Matt Teague commented: “We’re delighted to be expanding our partnership with Too Good To Go. 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.
“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. This practice of reducing food waste has now become the normal way of working across our retail estate, and we’re also seeing retailers from A.F. Blakemore’s independent SPAR estate increasingly eager to sign up to the app too.”
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 collect their bag of goodies at the allocated time from their chosen SPAR store.
Paschalis Loucaides, Managing Director UK at Too Good To Go, commented: “We’re thrilled to be rolling out our partnership with A.F. Blakemore and its owned SPAR stores. If we’re going to make a dent in the vast quantities of food wasted every day we need to work with partners who are as dedicated to the cause as we are.
“Now, consumers can help rescue food from their local A.F. Blakemore SPAR, bringing communities and businesses together in the fight against food waste. I’m excited to see what we can achieve together.”
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