By Christopher Lombardo and Andrea Hernandez
Too Good To Go is asking people to better scrutinize their food to reduce waste.
The social impact company, which bills itself as the largest marketplace for surplus food, unveiled “Look-Smell-Taste” in Canada on Tuesday, which is a campaign designed to reduce household food waste. This initiative encourages consumers to trust their senses and better evaluate food before discarding it.
The explainer video, which was completed in-house, will be featured on Too Good To Go’s social channels, as well as on its dedicated campaign page.
As part of the campaign, Too Good To Go is incorporating a bespoke “Look-Smell-Taste” label with best-before dates into the packaging of 14 brands, with many more planned to come. Participating brands represent a variety of food products and include both local and international names such as The Laughing Cow (Bel Group), Greenhouse, Sunny Fruit, Barry Callebaut and Healtea.
Companies that include the label have signed a two-year contract, but are encouraged to continue using the label after that time, which is a trend the company has observed in other markets where it has implemented the initiative, Too Good to Go country director for Canada Andrea Li tells strategy.
Canada joins 13 European countries who have added the label to more than 5,000 SKUs. The initiative has been active in Europe for almost five years. Li says the Canadian launch of the campaign is a continuation of the brand’s broader goal to reduce food waste worldwide and expand its footprint beyond Europe.
“Across Canada, we see a tremendous amount of food waste occurring at home as a result of adherence to date labels,” she says. “By adding this label to packaged goods we are empowering consumers in Canada to use their senses when food is approaching its best before date, as most of this food is still perfectly good to consume and can lead to a reduction in waste and money.”
A recent survey conducted by Léger and Too Good To Go found that 92% of people in Canada check the date on a food item before consuming it. However, 40% throw food out past their best-before date at least once a week, without formally checking whether it can still be consumed.
The survey’s results also reveal that 61% of Canadians would switch to a different brand if they knew it was doing more than their current brand to reduce its food waste.
“Our tactical goal is also to have all food-selling businesses on the app to sell their surplus food, and all people with smartphones in Canada to have the app on their phone,” Li says.
When the Too Good To Go brand first came to Toronto in 2021, it had 75 partners on the app. Today, the brand boasts more than 3,000 in the city alone. The app has since been downloaded 2.5 million times.
It is going after a broad consumer motivated by a variety of goals including to save food from waste, to lessen the impact of food waste on the environment and to save money.
“We are also targeting businesses who can influence what is included on their products,” Li adds. “We want to increase awareness around food waste at every level and believe businesses can have a huge influence, without requiring a change in legislation or government intervention.”
These businesses include thousands of local and independent partners, as well as national partners like Tim Hortons, 7-Eleven and Pizza Pizza.
In June, convenience giant Alimentation Couche-Tard also announced the expansion of its Too Good To Go partnership in North America and Europe. The two companies aim to have more than 9,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard stores across the U.S., Canada, Ireland and Poland available on the Too Good To Go app by year-end, the brand’s most extensive rollout to date.
Circle K and Couche-Tard staff will inspect their food inventory daily for items nearing expiration and pack them into “Too Good To Go Surprise Bags,” adapting to the fluctuating surplus. Directly from the free mobile app on their phones, more than 95 million Too Good To Go registered Circle K and Couche-Tard users will be able to save food from going to waste and have it for half of the original price or less.
