How a grocery ‘happy hour’ is cutting food waste

Happy hour at the S-market store in the working-class neighbourhood of Vallila happens far from the liquor aisles and isn’t exactly convivial. Nobody is here for drinks or a good time. They’re looking for a steep discount on a slab of pork.

Or a chicken, or a salmon fillet, or any of a few hundred items that are hours from their midnight expiration date. Food that is nearly unsellable goes on sale at every one of Smarket’s 900 stores in Finland, with prices that are already reduced by 30% slashed to 60% off at exactly 9 pm.

It’s part of a two-year campaign to reduce food waste that company executives in this country decided to call “happy hour” in the hopes of drawing in regulars.

About one-third of the food produced and packaged for human consumption is lost or wasted, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That equals 1.3 billion tonnes a year, worth nearly $680 billion. All that excess food, scientists say, contributes to climate change.

Landfills of rotting food emit methane, a gas that is roughly 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. For consumers, cutting back on food waste is one of the few personal habits that can help the planet.

“There’s been a lot of focus on energy,” said Paul Behrens, a professor at the University of Leiden, Netherlands. “But climate change is as much a land issue and a food issue as anything else.”

“Consumers are paying for the food, and who wants to reduce that?” said Toine Timmermansof the United Against Food Waste Foundation. “Who profits from reducing food waste?” A growing number of supermarkets, restaurants and startups are trying to answer that question.

Some of the most promising food waste efforts are apps that connect food sellers to food buyers. Think Tinder, except one party in this hookup, is a person and the other is an ageing loaf of bread.

Among the most popular is Too Good to Go in Copenhagen, with 13 million users and contracts with 25,000 restaurants and bakeries in 11 countries. Consumers pay one-third of the sticker price, most of which goes to the retailer, with a small percentage to the app.

In Denmark, food rescue has attained the scale and momentum. Selina Juul started a Facebook group called Stop Wasting Food in 2008. Soon after, she came to the attention of Anders Jensen, buying director at REMA 1000, Denmark’s the largest supermarket chain.

After the two met, REMA 1000 eliminated in-store bulk discounts. As of 2008, there would be no more three hams for the price of two.

In Finland, reducing food waste has yet to become a political issue, but it is a selling point for at least one restaurant. Every dish on the menu of Loop is made from past-due ingredients donated by grocery stores and bakeries. Donations vary, so Loop’s chefs have no idea what they’ll be making until they walk into the restaurant’s kitchen.

Source : https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/grocery/how-a-grocery-happy-hour-is-cutting-food-waste/71081147