High street QSR chain Greggs has launched its 30th outlet store in London this month, offering customers the chance to reduce food waste by buying just out of date food products.
The Greggs Outlet concept has been running since 1972 when the chain started its initiative aimed at supporting socially deprived areas and redistributing unsold food items. The new outlet shop opened in East London in the first week of December taking the total number of outlets to 30 - over halfway to Greggs' target of 50 outlets by 2025.
Roisin Currie, CEO at Greggs said: "As a leading food on the go retailer in the UK, it's important that we do our bit to put an end to food waste and help to tackle poverty, hunger and deprivation across all the communities we operate in. We have three channels for giving good food a second chance – we donate it to charities who can make use of it; we offer it to our customers at a discount via the Too Good To Go app; and we sell it at a discount through our Outlet Shops. The expansion of our Outlet shop estate is a core part of the Greggs Pledge and a testament to the commitment we make every day in supporting our customers' health, our communities, and our planet, that we are on track to deliver against our 2025 targets."
As well as supporting local communities with reduced priced products, the Greggs Outlets also donate a share of their profits to The Greggs Foundation - a grant-making charity which aims to build stronger, healthier communities in the areas where Greggs' operates. In 2021, around £370,000 was raised through the shops, as part of approximately £3.5 million distributed each year to charitable organisations throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
Elsewhere in the UK, supermarket chain Aldi has launched its traditional annual festive food discounts to help consumers with a cheaper basket, especially well received during the tough cost of living crisis the nation is currently enduring. The discounts include vegetables being sold for as little as 19p, including 1kg of carrots, 2kg of potatoes and 500g of parsnips, as well as red and white cabbages, swedes and of course brussels sprouts too - just in time for Christmas.
"At Aldi we believe that access to fresh, high-quality food is a right, not a privilege – and Christmas dinner is no exception," explained Julie Ashfield, Aldi UK managing director of buying. "Christmas is an expensive time for many families up and down the UK, but customers can rest assured that Aldi will always offer the very best value groceries."
The promotion will run throughout the week leading up to Christmas from Sunday 18th December until Christmas Eve.
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The ongoing cost of living crisis continues to have an impact on all areas of daily life, including the continued change on how we look to feed ourselves. We breakdown the topic in a special foodwatching report and have outlined three key takeouts to give you a taster for the full report which can be accessed by tfp trendhub subscribers. Read these takeouts and access the report in full here.
Image credit greggs.co.uk.