Grimsby’s Company Shop is waging a war on Food Waste and helping to put food on the table during the Cost of Living crisis.
The shop, on Grimsby’s Top Cat Industrial Estate has revealed its members have collectively saved £6,698,224 on their shopping in the past 12 months alone – helping to stretch hard-working family budgets at a crucial time.
Figures also show that the Grimsby store has saved 2,479 tonnes of perfectly-good food, drink and household products from needlessly going to waste, helping to generate the equivalent of 5,901,528 meals for the local community. The same positive impact has been delivered for members across the Group’s further 13 Company Shop stores and 12 Community Shops in England and Scotland, with the unique retail model collectively saving UK shoppers £121 million on their food bills – up by £21 million on last year.
READ MORE:
Membership for Company Shop stores is completely free and lasts a lifetime. It is open to those working in FMCG manufacturing and logistics; the NHS and emergency services; social care; prison services; British Armed Forces; employees and volunteers for charities, and those on means-tested benefits amongst others, helping the power of surplus food to reach where it has the most benefit.
This new impact data was announced as part of the latest Impact Report for the business, which will soon build on these successes by introducing even more quality bargains. The headline figures included the Group redistributing a phenomenal 45,578 tonnes of surplus food and products in 2023 across the UK – a significant 10% increase on the previous year and the largest undertaking in its 50-year history.
(Image: The Company Shop)
With the report launching during Food Waste Action Week which ends today (March 24), the Group also confirmed that it generated the equivalent of 108,500,000 meals from surplus stock in the last year alone. This saved 122,547 of CO2e – equal to taking 70,000 cars off the road and growing 2 million tree seedlings for 10 years.
Company Shop also helped industry partners, including regional businesses, by providing a £47 million financial return on surplus that would have otherwise been needlessly wasted. This is a 20% increase on last year, taking the Group’s total financial return to the industry in the last five years to a staggering £158 million.
With over 200,000 tonnes of surplus going to waste each year, and with the cost of living crisis continuing, the Group has reinforced its commitment to continued growth and innovation in the year ahead, so it can improve the lives of even more Grimsby families.
This includes investing in its store infrastructure and membership proposition to ensure that the rescued food and products are reaching people’s homes as intended. The business will do this by enhancing the member shopping experience through a whole estate rebrand, and increasing the range of high-quality, great value products available in each store.
To demonstrate the positive impact the Group has on industry, people and planet the Group has also relaunched ‘The Surplus Effect’, its campaign aimed at highlighting the wider issue of waste and the key role it plays as the UK’s leading redistributor.
(Image: The Company Shop)
Danielle Cuthbert, Regional Store Manager at Company Shop Grimsby, said: We are so proud to have been able to save so many members in Grimsby so much money in the past 12 months; we know how much of a difference it makes for families.
“We are committed to making sure that every day, our shelves are stacked with high-quality surplus food and household products from brands that our members love at deeply-discounted prices. The dual benefit of Company Shop’s model means that we can help our members to both stretch their budgets slightly and do something good for the planet by preventing good food from going to waste.
“We would love to see those who qualify for our free membership sign up online or by visiting our store, to see first-hand the huge impact Company Shop can have for them.”
Owen McLellan, Managing Director of Company Shop Group, said: “Our latest redistribution figures once again demonstrate the power of working in close collaboration with industry and local areas to fundamentally change the way we view surplus. In doing so, more businesses than ever before have unlocked the financial, social and environmental value from their surplus, enabling us to collectively deliver meaningful support to some of the most deserving communities, whilst protecting our planet.
“We are really proud of what we have achieved over the last year, as we have constantly pushed the boundaries of what has been done before. We remain more committed than ever before to unlocking the substantial volume of surplus which still remains untouched, and is needlessly going to waste, each year.
“We will continue to innovate and create new efficient and sustainable solutions that help the industry reduce waste whilst supporting those who need it most, and we encourage those who are looking to do something truly positive with their surplus stock to get in touch.”
