Food app with an environmental conscience, Too Good To Go, has today (9 September) launched a report that details new insight into food waste in the food-to-go sector.
The report, which analyses survey responses from employees in the sector as well as consumer behaviour, has found that nine out of ten employees are negatively impacted by how much food their business wastes on a daily basis. Emotions such as frustration, guilt, sadness and anger were all identified as being felt when food is wasted, with disappointment felt the most – by half (49%) of all employees surveyed.
Despite this concern for food waste from employees, business operations are not set up to tackle the issue. Only 46% of employees surveyed said their business has operations guidelines or documents that detail best practices for dealing with and reducing food waste. On top of this, training is limited. Less than half of employees surveyed (45%) stated that they receive sustainability awareness or employee sessions on reducing food waste.
When asked about the reasons for food waste in their business, one third of respondents (36%) stated that poor stock management was to blame. However, the survey also found that almost two thirds of businesses (60%) do not have a stock management process in place to reduce food waste.
With sustainability rising up the agenda for employees and consumers, it is vital for food-to-go businesses to step up and ensure that they’re actively playing a role to reduce food waste
Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go, said: “It is clear that employees in the food-to-go sector are becoming more aware of the issue of food waste in their business – more than eight in 10 employees in the sector are aware of how much food their business wastes on a daily basis. And the negative impact this is having on employee wellbeing is a cause for concern.
“There also remains a stark knowledge gap in the impact of food waste. Over a third of employees are still not aware of the environmental impact of throwing away food. With sustainability rising up the agenda for employees and consumers, it is vital for food-to-go businesses to step up and ensure that they’re actively playing a role to reduce food waste. ”
Too Good To Go lets people buy surplus food from restaurants, retailers and producers to stop it from going to waste. Users simply download the free Too Good To Go app and search for nearby businesses with unsold food, then purchase a ‘Magic Bag’, collect it at an allotted time and enjoy it.
The full ‘Food Waste Has Got To Go report is available here.
