FOOD WASTE

RESEARCH: TOO GOOD TO GO

TIME TO BIN FOOD WASTE?

SOCIAL IMPACT COMPANY TOO GOOD TO GO HAS COMPILED A REPORT ON THE AMOUNT OF WASTE IN THE FOOD-TO-GO SECTOR WHICH SUGGESTS A QUARTER OF BUSINESSES ARE THROWING AWAY MORE FOOD AFTER LOCKDOWN THAN BEFORE AND THAT THE ISSUE IS AFFECTING STAFF WELLBEING.

With the UK food-to-go market predicted to be worth northwards of £21bn in 2020, it’s little wonder that more and more businesses are trying to get a piece of the action. However, the need to attract shoppers with well stocked displays often leads to a surplus of food at the end of the day, which often ends up being discarded.

Against this backdrop, social impact company Too Good To Go surveyed over 2,000 consumers and more than 250 food-to-go employees to discover the causes of food waste and its impact.

Its report found that unpredictable customer footfall was the main reason why food waste occurred. Despite many Brits (40%) considering their purchasing behaviour as “sensible”, almost half (43%) buy food on the go at least once per week with no designated day and over a quarter always consider the weather before deciding what to eat. This rises to over two- thirds for 25-34 year olds.

But food waste also happens because many businesses are underprepared. Almost two-thirds (60%) of employees state their workplace does not have a stock management system in place to reduce food waste. Considering poor stock management accounts for a third of food waste, this is an area for improvement within the sector.

Over half of employees (57%) said fruit and vegetables are the most wasted food types in the food-to-go sector. It is possible that this is due to their shorter shelf life compared to other products, but it could also potentially be impacted by the fact that less than 10% of Brits are likely to buy a healthy snack when on the go, and businesses are not accurately adapting their stocks to purchasing trends.

Covid-19 rocked supply chains and had huge implications for food waste levels across the board. For food-to-go businesses, the impact of lockdown on food waste levels has been divided.

A third of employees (33%) reported that their business saw an increase in food waste levels during the lockdown. Experiences as the country has eased out of lockdown have also been mixed. Half of businesses (51%) have seen a decrease in food waste levels after the lockdown, whereas over a quarter (26%) have experienced increased food waste levels.

This reduction could be a result of businesses being more cautious and therefore offering limited menus as they adjust to the new normal. With unpredictable footfall a major factor influencing food waste anyway, added uncertainty and a decrease in confidence levels will cause further problems for food-to-go businesses.

The research also gave some insight into how consumers are feeling about their return to normal. Although 48% of Brits see themselves eating at home more often than before lockdown, almost half of Brits surveyed (45%) do not expect their food-on-the-go purchasing behaviour to change in the wake of Covid-19.

It is those in the 25-34-year-old demographic who expect their behaviour to change the most, with almost two thirds (60%) expecting some change in their purchasing. And it seems that women are more cautious, with double the number of male respondents stating that they are likely to spend more money eating out after Covid-19.

Generally, Brits’ decision making is not going to be impacted by ease of access concerns when grabbing food on the go. With the UK workforce continuing to work from home rather than in city centres, this is a positive sign for the food-to-go sector.

Aside from the waste of resources and monetary costs involved when food is wasted, the issue is having an impact on employee wellbeing.

Employees in the food-to-go sector are concerned about how much food is wasted. For most employees (64%), this is on an environmental level, with financial concerns and social concerns also being raised.

Female employees are more concerned about the environmental costs of food waste than male employees. This concern feeds into employee emotions, with nine in 10 employees of food-to-go businesses feel negative emotions when food is wasted. Half (49%) feel disappointed, whilst over a third (39%) state they feel frustrated. Guilt, sadness and anger were also expressed when asked how they feel when food is wasted.

These high levels of negativity could be because less than half (46%) of food-to-go businesses have operations guidelines or documents that detail best practices for dealing with and reducing food waste. In the same vein, less than half (45%) of businesses hold sustainability awareness or employee sessions on reducing food waste.

On-the-shelf use-by and sell-by date offers are one tool which food-to-go businesses implement to reduce food waste in store. Interestingly, this type of promotion does not have a huge impact on consumer decision-making when purchasing food on the go. Those most interested are consumers in Edinburgh, where almost a quarter (24%) of consumers say it would encourage them to spend more money.

When it comes to consumers and how they feel about sustainability, Northern Ireland is the most sustainably driven region. Over half of those who answered the survey (56%) see sustainability as critical or somewhat critical to their purchasing decisions.

Jamie Crummie, Too Good To Go’s Co- Founder, commented: “Covid-19 made people more aware of the fragility of our food system, and this might be a useful factor to consider for the food-to-go sector. Many food-to-go businesses over-stock their shelves to satisfy customers’ needs throughout each day, but this is a dangerous cycle. Now that customers have experienced not being able to get what they want, when they want it, there is an opportunity for food-to-go to shift operations that better manage expectations as well as waste levels.

“Our research has found that employees are concerned about food waste, yet there is a gap in training and procedures to help them manage food waste levels better. Introducing training programmes, adopting new tools, implementing technology and building these into operations guidelines will ensure that food-to-go businesses are prepared from the ground up.”