Food redistribution
Food waste is a huge challenge globally and we all have a part to play in reducing it.
In 2019, we made a public commitment to reduce food waste by signing up to the Step Up to the Plate Pledge and the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which is designed to help businesses like us take targeted action to reduce waste in our own operations, our supply chain and from customers. To help us redistribute our food and prevent it from being wasted, we’ve introduced food saving initiatives in our stores and throughout our supply chain.
In our stores
Store teams follow the principles of the food waste hierarchy at each stage of their food’s lifecycle; we first aim to reduce waste, then to sell it at a reduced price. If we can no longer sell it, we try to donate food to local charities where possible. Our last resort is to recycle food that is no longer safe to consume. Here are a few examples of what our store teams do to reduce waste:
One of the many ways of tackling food waste is through a highly efficient ordering system designed to reduce waste before it is created.
Waste not, want not! Our stores offer a 50% discount on food during the last hour of trading that is in date but cannot be sold the following day!
Our Food Surplus Policy enables stores to make food donations to local and national charities on request and, for those stores whose waste streams we manage, any food waste that cannot be redistributed we send to Anaerobic Digestion, where it is turned into biogas and bio fertiliser. If you represent a charity that could make use of Costa Coffee food surplus and would like to collect regularly from your local store towards the end of their trading hours, please pop in and speak with the Store Manager. To read more about our approach to food surplus donations, please see our policy above.
Working in collaboration
We are proud to work with some fantastic partners, charities & NGO’s across the UK to tackle food waste, including food redistribution app Too Good To Go.
Too Good To Go is a social impact company driving a movement against food waste. Their app is the world’s largest business to consumer marketplace for surplus food. The app connects users with businesses that have leftover food, so that this food can be enjoyed instead of wasted.
We've been working with Too Good To Go since August 2018, and we are proud to have 1100+ stores across the UK using the app to help fight food waste! To get a Costa Magic Bag, head to the app.
Supply Chain
For a number of years now we have partnered with FareShare to donate surplus food from our supply chain meaning that food that might otherwise have gone to waste is sent to charity and community groups that support vulnerable people across the country.