Too Good To Go
The East of England Co-op has become the biggest retailer in the region to launch with innovative food saving app, Too Good To Go. The move comes as part of the East of England Co-op's ambition to reduce edible food waste to zero by 2030.
Following a successful pilot scheme, Too Good To Go is now available in all East of England Co-op Food stores, making it the biggest grocery retailer to be on the app in the region.
The Too Good To Go app lets you buy and collect 'Magic Bags' of unsold food - at a great prices - so it gets eaten instead of wasted.
Too Good To Go Magic Bags at the East of England Co-op are available for £3.30 and contain food worth at least three times that value. Customers don't know what is in the bag until they pick it up, but can expect a generous mix of chilled and ambient products, from meat and fish to cakes and bread.
The East of England Co-op has been at the forefront of tackling food waste for several years since launching its pioneering Co-op Guide to Dating scheme, where it became the first major retailer to sell food past its best before date for a nominal 10p. Since 2018, it has saved nearly one million products from waste which were sold under the scheme.
Steven Fendley, Head of Sustainability at the East of England Co-op, the region’s largest independent retailer, said: “Since making our pledge to reduce edible food waste to zero we have looked at a myriad of ways we can keep perfectly edible food from going to waste. Launching on Too Good To Go was a no brainer, helping tackle the issue while giving our customers an excellent opportunity to enjoy delicious food at a great price.
“We have also been delivering other work in this area, including using new intelligent technology in our Reduced to Clear section, improving how and when we mark down chilled food nearing its ‘use by’ date, giving customers better discounts, earlier in the day.”
Too Good To Go was piloted in 42 East of England Co-op stores over 44 days. During this time an incredible 4,678 magic bags were sold.
Sophie Trueman, Managing Director for Too Good To Go UK & I adds, "I'm thrilled to be rolling out our partnership across all East of England Co-op stores so our users can rescue even more good food for a great price. Food waste accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and so by reducing the volume of perfectly good food going to waste together we can take huge strides towards combatting climate change. I’m incredibly excited to see the impact our partnership can have in the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Too Good To Go has over 8 million users in the UK. Download the Too Good To Go app from Google Play or Apple App Store.