Leftover cans of spicy frankfurters from Unox or spreads from De Ruijter: online supermarket Foodello likes to use up the leftover batches from producers. The Finnish company hopes to prevent food waste in this way, customers mainly come for the low prices.
Under the loud, musical encouragement of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, team leader Tomasz Matras, rolls his cart through the distribution center in Zaandam. Here and there he stops at a rack to put a product in a blue container. From Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate bars (best before December 22) to bags of noodles (good until January next year) and jars with onion powder (usable until the end of 2026).
At first sight, there is little wrong with the foods that Matras and his colleagues pack today. Yet supermarkets would no longer put them on their shelves. Due to outdated packaging, damaged products or approaching best before dates, they no longer meet the desired image. A shame, thinks webshop Foodello. That is why the originally Finnish company buys the leftovers from manufacturers to sell them to consumers.
A purchasing technique that not only yields low prices for the consumer ‘our products are on average 50 percent cheaper than at the supermarket’ but should also combat food waste, the company states. Much needed, because despite the European agreements to halving food waste by 2030, a quarter of all food in the Netherlands was wasted in 2020. Good for a waste mountain worth 2 billion kilos, according to research by Wageningen University and the Samen tegen Verspilling foundation.
The arrival of a new platform with ‘residual flows’ is therefore very welcome, says Toine Timmermans, chairman of the Samen against Food Waste foundation. ‘It fits in with the sector-wide trend to waste less. Through dynamic discounting and platforms like Too Good to Go stores already sell many discounted foods that would otherwise end up in the waste bank, but Foodello is a good addition with the larger volumes and longer-lasting products.’
Bargain Hunters
The concept of Foodello is not new. ‘The market for residual flows has always been there’, says Sebastiaan Schreijen. The food and agribusiness analyst at Rabobank refers, among other things, to the residual batches at Action and the former supermarket chain C1000. ‘The online form is new. That makes the distribution of the products a lot easier.’
The Finnish start-up has the tide on several fronts. ‘Due to the economic circumstances, consumers are more interested in bargains,’ says Schreijen. Data from market researcher IRI shows that customers are buying private labels more often (4.5 percent more than a year ago) and that the market share of discount chains such as Aldi and Lidl is growing due to sky-high inflation.
Although it is unclear to what extent rising supermarket prices are contributing to business, according to Foodello, it is in any case not working against him. ‘Most customers indicate that they order from us because of the low prices’, says spokesman Bas Dekker. Combating food waste is a ‘nice side effect’ for customers.
Although it is not the case that Foodello has ‘saved’ the entire range from the waste mountain. ‘Residual batches like this regularly end up as biomass or animal feed’, explains Timmermans. The latter final destination is not regarded as waste in Europe. But processing it does cost extra energy, says Dekker. ‘With us, a packet of biscuits ends up as it was intended: as food for the consumer.’
Provided the customer actually eats the purchased product. Households are still responsible more than half of all food waste in Europe.
Spoiled gingerbread
In the Netherlands, approximately 30,000 people know where to find Foodello products. ‘Around 100 to 200 new customers are added every day’, says Dekker proudly. The distribution center grows with it. Where there was only one rack full of food at the launch in February, today warehouse workers have to zigzag through nine aisles to collect groceries. ‘We process about 500 orders a day,’ says team leader Matras. Varying from a few cans of tomato soup to five hundred cans of energy drink for one customer.
Sometimes there are products that are already ‘expired’. ‘But contrary to what many consumers think, ‘best before’ dates on the products are only a guideline,’ says Dekker. ‘You can still eat a pack of rice that is a month past its expiry date.’ Although, despite a quality check, things occasionally go wrong. ‘Recently, a spoiled pack of gingerbread was sent back, whose best-before date had not yet passed,’ says Dekker. ‘But that can also happen at a normal supermarket.’
Food banks in the thick of it
A more efficient food chain is not an improvement for everyone. Food banks see the number of donations from supermarkets and food manufacturers decrease, while the number of people knocking on doors for help is increasing. Tom Hillemans, the vice-chairman of Food Banks Netherlands, warned in September about a possible customer stop if nothing changed.
Yet Hillemans does not see companies such as Foodello as an enemy. ‘We understand initiatives that want to combat food waste and it is logical that manufacturers would like to earn from their (residual) products.’ Even if that jeopardizes donations to the food banks. Hillemans: ‘It is simply the case that the food industry is handling its production and purchasing more efficiently. That means that we have to look for another solution ourselves.’
In the short term, it has already been found: this winter, Unox, Bolletje and Hak . will donate extra food to the food bank.