Budgens grows partnership with food waste app

Too Good To Go lets people buy surplus food and drink from retailers, restaurants, pubs, and producers to stop it from going to waste. Consumers download the free Too Good To Go app and search for nearby businesses with unsold produce. They then purchase a ‘Magic Bag’ and collect it at an allotted time.

The Budgens Magic Bags contain a mix of short-dated fresh groceries, food-to-go items, and ambient produce, all at risk of going to waste.

The brands have saved 25,000 Magic Bags of food from going to waste since the first store in East Finchley came on board in June 2019. In addition, they have saved 62,500kg of CO2e emissions.

Avtar Sidhu, owner of St John’s Budgens in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, said: “It’s a win-win. Too Good To Go has allowed us to streamline the waste process, helping us save valuable time and resources that were previously spent throwing food away. It is also the right thing to do because wasting food doesn’t make sense. Fighting food waste makes our brand environmentally conscious and community-focused.”

Mike Baker, brand director of Budgens, added: “It is fantastic to know that so many Budgens retailers have seen the value of Too Good to Go for their business. This service really is great in so many ways; it reduces food waste and costs; gives back to local communities and helps retailers with their sustainability efforts. The Magic Bags really do deliver outstanding value and the feedback from our retailers has been tremendous. I’m sure this is just the start as more and more retailers come on board with this simple, efficient and rewarding scheme.”