Dry mist dispensers, temperature-controlled sensors and takeaway bags of ‘end of life’ products were among the food waste reduction initiatives put forward by startups at the latest ECR Community Shrink & OSA Group meeting. This article first appeared in ESM Issue 4 2019.
From an initial longlist of 200, five enterprising startups showcased their proposed food waste solutions to six top European retailers at the latest Sell More, Waste Less meeting, held by the ECR Community Shrink & OSA Group last month.
The event, held at Delhaize Head Office in Brussels, saw representatives from Asda, Delhaize, Albert, Tesco, Sonae and Lidl grill the five entrepreneurs in terms of suitability, scalability and innovation. The event was co-hosted by innovation platform Co:cubed.
The event was attended by experts in waste management and logistics efficiency from across the European retail spectrum, as well as academics and producers. Retailers represented included Metro AG, Waitrose, Aldi, Asda, Kaufland, Delhaize, Marks & Spencer, Ikea and many others.
“This initiative supports our continued focus on promoting the promise of collaboration between retailers and producers, while at the same time providing new ideas, tools and techniques that can guide how they can better work together to deliver innovation, continued efficiencies and tangible results,” said John Fonteijn, chair of the ECR Community Shrink & OSA Group.
Target Areas
Since the last group meeting in Lisbon, the participating retailers earmarked five core areas warranting further attention – supply chain visibility, store and warehouse optimisation, extending shelf life, clearance and reductions, and repurposing and reusing products – which formed the backdrop for this year’s contest.
The first startup addressing these topics at the ‘shark tank’ style forum was Evigence Sensors, which has developed smart Visual Freshness Sensors that replace the old date code expiration system with a dynamic technology that monitors expiry and temperature of perishable food products in real time. The sensors change colour gradually, visually indicating the true shelf life of the product for both handlers and consumers. These ensure a level of “visual intuitiveness” for temperature-controlled supply chains, as VP Marketing Rob Cohen explained.
Next, Kristoffer Hagstedt, of Sweden-based Whywaste, introduced Semafor, a digital, store-based expiration date management system used in eight countries, which has led to 30% waste reductions, while Rogier Klein-Sprokkelhors of Contronics outlined how dry mist can raise humidity and cool products simultaneously, ensuring products are kept fresh.
Later, David Kat of Wasteless showcased a dynamic pricing solution, that requires just a “light integration” with a POS solution to optimally mark down fresh products with shorter expiration dates. At Iper, in Italy, integration of the system in the poultry section saw waste reduced by over 90%, while margins grew by almost 50%.
The startup showcase concluded with Mette Lykke, CEO of Too Good To Go, a business that has worked with retailers on developing ‘magic bags’ of end of life products for consumers to purchase at significant discounts. Too Good to Go, which originated in Denmark, already boasts partners in 11 European countries, and is present in some 22,000 stores.
Key Learnings
As Jeremy Basset, chief executive of Co:cubed, which worked alongside ECR Community on the development of the startup contest, told ESM, the process started over six months ago.
“We devised a longlist of 200 startups, which were focused on the end-to-end food logistics system – supply chain optimisation, how to keep food fresh in-store, effective ways of discounting short-life products, and ways to recycle and reuse products that are at the end of their life,” he said.
As he explained, it was important for all participating startups to “not just offer solutions to those briefs, but also deliver solutions that are scalable. It’s one thing to have an idea, but unless you have technology that is able to be plugged into a retailer’s structure, and then be scaled up, it’s not going to have any impact.”
Participating startups will now undergo pilot workshops with the retailers on the ’shark tank’ panel, with a view to potential implementation and a review of their effectiveness at the next Sell More, Waste Less meeting, taking place in November.
Shared Insight
As with previous ECR Community Shrink & OSA Group events, the Brussels meeting also provided ample opportunity for attendees to gain insight from retail leaders on best practice solutions in dealing with food waste, as well as benchmark ideas with their peers from across Europe.
In a video interview, Greg Welling of US-based Associated Food Stores outlined the importance of data and record keeping in tackling food waste, while also adopting a novel approach in dealing with wastage from its busy donut section. Any donuts that are left over at the end of the day are ‘left out’ (stale or otherwise) for staff to observe the following morning, reiterating to them the importance of optimising production.
Elsewhere, assistant professors Karel van Donselaar and Rob Broekmuelen of of TU Eindhoven engaged delegates in an ‘expiry date visibility game’, exploring the benefits of different grades of expiration date (ED) visibility – no ED visibility, item-based ED visibility, and batch-based ED visibility – in a range of case studies, exploring ways in which replenishment visibility can be maximised while reducing costs.
Fostering Collaboration
Closing the event, Richard Lamb, supply chain development director at Tesco, said the retailer has developed cutting-edge forecasting and ordering tools, and is putting more focus on how it can also be optimised to simplify the operation for suppliers.
“You need to get suppliers on board to ensure you can tackle food waste along the supply chain,” he said, adding that the retailer was continuing to adopt more of a ‘partnership’ approach. “It’s about collaborating with suppliers so that you can get the right answers, from farm to fork.”
An example of this is Tesco’s work to help its potato grower, Branston, to supply manufacturer Samworths. Potatoes outside the retailer’s specifications are used in Tesco’s own-brand mashed potato. Another example is the recent launch of HYKE gin, developed by innovative West Sussex distiller Foxhole Spirits, using grapes lost in the packaging process.
Another interesting initiative at Tesco is its move away from best-before dates on over 150 fruit and vegetable products, as customers say it helps them reduce food waste. Research has revealed that 69% of customers believe scrapping best before dates is a good idea, while 53% of shoppers in the same survey say they believe scrapping best before dates makes a difference, helping them keep perfectly good food for longer. Plenty of food for thought, in other words.
The next meeting of this ECR Community Shrink & OSA Group will be on November 13th & 14th, location to be confirmed. To view the pitches or register for future meetings visit www.ecr-shrink-group.com
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
