BAKO partners with Too Good To Go

THE SCOTTISH BAKER BAKO PARTNERS WITH TOO GOOD TO GO

BAKO LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP WITH TOO GOOD TO GO

BAKO has recently launched a partnership with Too Good To Go, an easy to use app which allows food businesses to sell surplus food directly to their customers. Since 2016 over 10,000 businesses have been using the app to combat food waste and over 5 million have downloaded the app across the UK.

A win-win solution that is helping bakeries fight food waste!

As society becomes increasingly concerned about food waste, bakeries are finding new ways to combat over-production - and discovering that the fight against food waste comes with unexpected bonuses.

Every day, the UK wastes 20 million slices of bread. That’s 900,000 tonnes, or 90 Eiffel Towers’ worth. It’s a scale that’s difficult to fathom - but as anyone in the bakery sector knows, it isn’t hard to believe - and bread waste is just the tip of the iceberg.

“If you have an empty counter towards the end of the day, you’re unlikely to sell much,” says Asher Budwig, Managing Director of cupcake chain Lola’s Cupcakes. “This means we have to stock the counters later in the day to ensure the display looks reasonable.

The challenge is, how do you do this without wasting too much of the product?”

Budwig’s concerns reflect the feeling across the industry. In an independently run survey, food-waste-fighting app Too Good To Go discovered that 89% of bakery employees are aware of how much food their workplace throws away every day, with over half admitting that the environmental damage associated with this waste concerned them on a personal level.

They’re right to be concerned: responsible for 8-10% of greenhouse gases (for comparison, aviation was responsible for 2% in 2019) food waste is one of the most significant problems threatening our planet.

But while 60% of bakeries surveyed were aware that they should minimise food waste to help the environment, the reality isn’t quite that simple.

“As a business, it’s important for us not to have empty shelves,” says Curtis Williams, Sales Director of North London bakery chain Wenzel’s. “We need enough variety so that when customers come into a Wenzel’s store, they have choice and availability. It’s a fine balance.”

To help tread that balance, Wenzel’s and Lola’s Cupcakes both use Too Good To Go: the app that lets businesses sell ‘Magic Bags’ of surplus food to local customers.

These businesses are among 2,000 UK bakeries using the app to combat food waste, and have contributed to 740,000kg of food being saved from bakeries through the app since 2016.

Think Too Good To Go could benefit your business? Head to www.toogoodtogo.co.uk/bako to discover more.

BAKO will donate £25 for every active customer to Charitable food redistributors in the UK.

EVERY DAY, THE UK WASTES 20 MILLION SLICES OF BREAD. THAT’S 900,000 TONNES, OR 90 EIFFEL TOWERS’ WORTH. IT’S A SCALE THAT’S DIFFICULT TO FATHOM...”

BAKO GROUP LTD APPOINTS NEW CHAIRPERSON

David Yates has been elected Chairperson of Preston-headquartered bakery products distributor BAKO Group Ltd after previous chair Joe Hall stepped down from the role at the end of his tenure in May 2021.

Mr Yates took over as Chairperson on 1st June 2021, Mr Yates has served on the board since January 2018 and as Deputy Chairperson since December 2019. He said: “The coming years present many challenges but also many reasons for huge optimism for the bakery industry. As the world and the industry recovers from the impact of Covid-19, I am really excited and honoured to have been elected as Chairperson of BAKO and look forward to a bright future of innovation, diversification and positive change for the benefit of our members, partners, customers and colleagues across the baking industry.”