Greggs has sold one million ‘magic bags’ of food packed with goodies including sausage rolls and doughnuts, helping to keep more than 6,000 tonnes of food from going to waste.
The Newcastle firm teamed up Too Good To Go, an app that is helping companies to prevent waste while also steering people to places looking to offload unsold food. The social impact enterprise works with a host of firms like Starbucks, Morrisons, Costa, Waitrose, Spar, as well as local stores, on a mission to end food waste – and with the continuing cost of living crisis set to bite deeper when energy bills rise for a second time this autumn, the firm has seen downloads soar, as people explore ways to save money.
By downloading the free app, people can search for nearby businesses offering unsold items which they can then buy as a ‘magic bag’, filled with food at a third of its original retail value, to be collected at an allotted time. Greggs ’ magic bags contain a mix of food including sausage rolls, wraps, cookies, sandwiches and doughnuts, and more than 1,200 Greggs sites across the UK are now available to snap up surplus food.
Read more: Too Good To Go, the app which lets you get Greggs, Subway, Costa & Pret for a fraction of the price
Gillian Long, Greggs retail operations director, added: “While we do everything that we can to redistribute surplus food to those in need, our partnership with Too Good To Go really helps to ensure we keep as much as possible from going to waste and continue delivering on our food waste commitments. As announced in the Greggs Pledge, we are committed to creating 25% less food waste by 2025 than we did in 2018, and we will continue to work towards 100% of excess food going to those most in need.”
Sophie Trueman, managing director for Too Good To Go in the UK and Ireland, said: “We’re thrilled to be partners with a British staple like Greggs and to have reached such an incredible milestone so quickly. I’m incredibly excited to see our partnership continue to flourish and rescue even more Greggs favourites from going to waste.
Meanwhile, Greggs has opened its 400th franchise shop in North Yorkshire as it ramps up plans for growth. The company, which now has more than 2,200 shops across the UK in city centres, retail parks, train stations and airports and drive-thrus, opened the landmark 400th franchise shop in Selby with the company’s newest franchise partner Rontec.
Greggs said the opening marks a key milestone as it progresses the continued expansion of its shop estate, in line with its strategic growth plans to reach at least 3,000 shops across the UK.
It plans to open 150 shops each year, with around 50 expected to be opened via franchise partners, through its 14-strong partner network, which includes the likes of EG Group, Moto, MFG, Blakemore and Welcome Break. Franchises are expected to account for 20% of the total estate in the years’ ahead.
Malcolm Copland, commercial director at Greggs, said: “We’re delighted to announce our 400th franchise opening today, which demonstrates the success of our franchise model. Last year we set out an ambitious shop expansion target and our franchise partners will play an instrumental role in helping us achieve our goals.
"Over many years we have developed strong relationships with key franchise partners which has allowed us to accelerate our shop expansion plans, open in more on-the-go locations and become even more accessible for our customers. We’re pleased to add Rontec to our growing list of franchise partners and look forward to continuing our journey with all our partners in growing our estate to 3,000 shops and beyond.”
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