Alex’s Bakery is a cake shop and cafe that has undoubtedly gone from strength to strength since they launched in 2014. And while they’ve been feeding hungry customers, the owners have been fighting food waste by partnering with the surplus food app, Too Good To Go.
Now, I know that Alex’s Bakery’s magic bags on the anti-food waste app are extremely difficult to get hold of. The venue is extremely popular with locals and tourists alike, and so they’re often snapped up within minutes of going live, with a limited number of cakes available.
But in June, while waiting for an Uber in town, I absent-mindedly checked the app and discovered one solitary Alex’s Bakery bag available to reserve - with a collection time of ‘right this blooming second’ - which happened to be 2.08pm.
READ MORE: Everywhere you can get cheap mystery bags in Manchester on Too Good To Go
Luckily I was close by as I’d been working from the public lounge space at Moxy Manchester City, so was a hop, skip and a jump away from its Great Northern Warehouse site and rushed over straight away.
I had paid £4 for the mystery bag, which promised around £12 worth of surplus goods that would find themselves in the bin if left unsaved. For those unaware of how the app works, Too Good To Go is free to download, and shoppers can reserve magic bags of mystery food products which typically are nearing the end of their shelf life.
It provides a safety net for when businesses find themselves with unsold food at the end of the day, and makes customers think twice about food waste.
Alexandra Furlan, the co-founder of Alex’s Bakery, previously told the M.E.N : “ Too Good To Go is a fantastic idea as it covers our costs. We know our cakes are still fine to be eaten at the end of the day so it’s great to be able to make people still enjoy them.
“The app has brought a lot of new customers and it feels like a little community! When we were in lockdown, the people using Too Good To Go were also becoming full-time customers which was really valuable during these times. Using Too Good To Go on top of giving to charity is the best advice I could give to businesses trying to reduce their food waste.”
Arriving at the store, the outdoor seating area was busy with foodies soaking up the sun, but there were still a handful of seats inside. At the counter, I explained I was there to collect a Too Good To Go bag, and the member of staff double checked if I had any allergy requirements before handing me my bag of goodies.
I pulled up a pew at one of the empty tables and unboxed my £4 mystery bag, finding six products inside, making each item around 67p each - a fraction of their usual sale price.
I received five vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate stars, as well as a cherry bakewell style blondie. And while the cakes may not have looked totally perfect, with frosting having been knocked a little, or the blondie going a bit soft - they still tasted exactly as they should - perhaps even better sweet in the knowledge that they were a total bargain.
As Alexandra said, the Alex’s Bakery products are still fine to be eaten, and may not necessarily be nearing their shelf life, but simply a little wonky, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
Alex’s Bakery launched in 2014 at the Manchester Artisan Markets, moving to a concession at the Trafford Centre Debenhams before opening on Deansgate Mews and then relocating to their current building. They’re best known for their baked goods, sweets and cakes which are all baked fresh on the day, as well as their lunchtime paninis and Brazilian Arabica Coffee.
Their Too Good To Go boxes are perfect for sharing with friends and family, or taking back to colleagues in the office for a midday pick-me-up. It’s certainly a fun mystery bag where the contents are almost always guaranteed to be something irresistible, because who doesn’t love cake?
READ NEXT:
- I found out the reason Hey Little Cupcake sell cheap desserts on Too Good To Go
- I paid £3 for a mystery meal at Katsouris Deli on Deansgate and I'd have paid for it four times over
- How I got three pretzels the size of my head for the price of one from the Arndale Centre
- Spinningfields Frurt dishing out £3.33 mystery bags to save food waste
- I got three Leon breakfast muffins at Piccadilly for the price of one from McDonalds
