Marks & Spencer shoppers can now buy a Surprise Bag of bakery food worth at least £10.20 for just £3.80, as the retailer has joined the Too Good To Go app to reduce food waste. The scheme, which started in September, is available in 350 stores across the UK and Ireland, including nine in Greater Manchester.
The Surprise Bags, which cost from £3.80, contain three to four bakery products such as pastries, cookies and bread, all baked in-store. Customers can order them through the Too Good To Go app and collect them Monday to Saturday, one hour before the store closes.
Greater Manchester Stores Taking Part
The nine Greater Manchester stores participating include the one on Market Street in Manchester, the store inside the Trafford Centre, Stockport, Spinningfields, Prestwich, Wigan Robin Retail Park, Bolton Middlebrook, The Rock in Bury, and Ashton Moss.
The bags are designed to prevent food waste and have become increasingly popular during the cost of living crisis. Other retailers signed up to the app include Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Pound Bakery, Greggs, Aldi, Asda, and Morrisons. Reduced meals are also available from Toby Carvery and Farmhouse Inns, as well as home deliveries of bulk orders from brands like Heinz, Nescafe, Weetabix, Barratt sweets, Hershey's, and Wagamama meal kits.
Part of M&S's Food Waste Reduction Programme
The partnership is part of M&S's wider programme to halve food waste by 2030. The retailer recently announced that over 130 million meals have been donated from surplus food redistributed to charities through its partnership with Neighbourly. In stores, M&S already repurposes surplus food like bread to make frozen garlic bread and sells overripe bananas at a reduced price.
Lucinda Langton, head of sustainability at M&S Food, said: "Too Good To Go is a brilliant example of how we’re turning our commitment to reducing food waste into practical action. By giving customers access to surprise bags of surplus bakery products, we can help ensure more of our food is enjoyed rather than wasted. The response from our trial stores has been outstanding, and this partnership is another positive step towards our goal of halving food waste by 2030."
M&S says it uses clear guidance to store food correctly to prevent waste at home, and store colleagues reduce prices of unsold food before the end of the day. No food goes to landfill; inedible food past its use-by date is sent for anaerobic digestion to generate renewable energy.
Store Manager and Too Good To Go Reactions
Chris Parker, store manager at M&S Bolton in Middlebrook, said: "It’s great to be involved in this new launch with Too Good To Go to help reduce food waste. Our in-store bakeries are incredibly popular with customers, and at the end of the day, customers will now be able to order and collect surprise bags offering fantastic surplus bakery products at great value. By finding new ways to re-purpose surplus products, we’re helping ensure more food is enjoyed rather than wasted. This partnership is another positive step towards reaching our goal of halving food waste by 2030."
Chelsea Kerr, managing director at Too Good To Go UK & Ireland, added: "We’re delighted to be partnering with M&S to help make their surplus food available to even more customers across the UK and Ireland. Food waste is a huge challenge, but partnerships like this show how simple it can be for businesses and consumers to take action together. By giving food that might otherwise go unsold another chance to be enjoyed, we’re making it easier for people to save good food while also getting great value. M&S is a much-loved brand across the UK, so we’re excited to be working together to make saving food from going to waste a simple and accessible part of everyday life for even more people."
The number of bags available each day varies depending on surplus food levels.
