Increase revenue by reducing food waste? It's possible

Some businesses rely on food waste reduction applications to make themselves known to consumers ;a new clientele.

The Goûter pastry shop prepares boxes every day with pastries that have not been sold during the day to sell them to customers serving themselves of the Too Good To Go application. Others are also distributed to charities.

In a tough economy, Toronto merchants are finding a way to make ends meet through apps that reduce food waste.

Manon Leparq is owner of Franglish Gourmet Food, a small French and Belgian food business in downtown Toronto. It specializes in particular in the sale of breads, cold meats and cheeses.

Fresh products like bread are products that must be eaten day by day. Sometimes, you can't sell everything, she says.

So, if necessary, she prepares small bags of food that have not been sold in time for sell them at a discount through the Too Good To Go waste prevention app.

“ It's not a huge share of revenue, but it saves us from making dead losses. »

— Manon Leparq, owner of Franglish Gourmet Food

Owner of Goûter Patisseries in Toronto and North York, Rodney Alléguède, also uses this app to sell perishables at the end of the day. He says he prepares 10 to 15 packs a day.

Rodney Alléguède says food traders are also still facing shortages of products like butter and flour. “Every day is a battle,” he says.

For him, service is also a way of trying to attract customers.

At the end of the day, we close the door and we know that we have 15 customers who are going to taste our products, he points out.

“We do it in the hope that they will become regular customers.

— Rodney Alléguède, owner of Goûter pastry shops

These business owners believe that selling products through such a service serves as a small balm for their finances, but that is not enough.

Mrs. Leparq explains that her sales through Too Good To Go allow her to cover the costs incurred at the purchase level at a minimum, but that this comes as food prices continue to rise.

< source srcset="https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_960/v1/ici-info/16x9/manon-leparc.jpg" media="(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 99999px)"/>

Manon Leparq is concerned about the possibility of being forced to raise the price of her products if her suppliers on whom she depends raise their own prices.< /p>

We still receive emails from our suppliers who warn us that we are going to have increases [de prix] in March and April, she laments. Some are going to be 10%, others 40%.

“We're trying to parry the costs, but at a moment, it's complicated.

— Manon Leparq, owner of Franglish Gourmet Food

Mr. Alléguède indicates that his profit margins are getting smaller and smaller.

So, he says, we have to fight every day to keep the doors open and the business running, despite the additional economic benefits generated by sales on Too Good To Go.

Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytical Science Laboratory Director, Sylvain Charlebois, believes the use of food waste prevention apps is growing across the country.

Rising food prices, as mentioned by the two business owners, are not the only dynamics that make this kind of service attractive to both businesses and consumers, he believes.

In fact, there is also a growing awareness among Canadians about food waste.

“ As we say in good French, there, we want to save food from the dump or compost. So why not create another parallel, virtual market to recover these foods? »

— Sylvain Charlebois, Director of the Agri-food Analytical Science Laboratory at Dalhousie University

Sylvain Charlebois adds that some merchants could promote their use of services to prevent food waste in order to attract more customers.

The expert maintains that the vast majority of Canadians are still reluctant to learn about this kind of service, because the culture of food safety and security is still quite strong in the country.

Nevertheless, says- il, a persistent high rate of inflation could encourage more citizens to change their eating habits for money matters.

Already, Manon Leparq is seeing a change within her own customer base.

In the past, she argues, this kind of app served people who wanted to buy quality products, but more necessarily beautiful, now I think there are people who shop there.