As Canada’s top food-rescue partner with Second Harvest, Empire donated more than 30 million pounds of surplus food to charities
Why It Matters
More than half of the food produced in Canada goes to waste, yet one in seven Canadian families struggles with food insecurity. Tackling surplus food is an important way to ensure more people get the meals they need to live healthy lives while also reducing environmental and social impacts.
Fiscal 2024 Performance Highlights
reduction in food waste in our stores—over halfway to our target of achieving 50% reduction in food waste by 2025
pounds of surplus food donated to local charities from our stores and warehouses through our partnership with Second Harvest
kilograms of GHG averted thanks to food donations through Second Harvest
Our Approach
We are committed to reducing food waste in our operations by 50% by 2025, measuring and reporting on our progress using the globally recognized Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard. To reach this target, we work with likeminded partners to reduce food waste in our stores and supply chain, ensure surplus food makes its way to the tables of families who are in need and track the incredible food rescue and donation programs already in place at our stores across the country.
Our food waste reduction strategy has three areas of focus:
Preventing Food Loss and Waste
In light of the importance we place on reducing food loss and waste, we seek to build awareness, cultivate new behaviours and provide tools and systems that can empower our teams and customers to reduce the amount of food that is wasted and match surplus food from donor organizations with community and charitable organizations such as food banks.
We have implemented a multi-tiered food-waste prevention program that all managers are expected to execute in our stores daily. Stores are also provided with clear food donation guidelines vetted by our internal food safety team and in alignment with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency guidelines.
Redistributing Surplus Food—National Food Rescue Program
To make progress towards our food-waste reduction goal, we partner with Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization. We have successfully deployed the Second Harvest Food Rescue App in provinces across Canada, connecting families in need with non-profit organizations that have received fresh, healthy food, while also reducing surplus food. We have also onboarded all our retail support centres, including our customer fulfillment centre for our e-commerce business, Voilà. We expanded the project scope to include Needs convenience and fuel sites.
One of the many benefits of our national food rescue program is that it makes it easier for our stores to donate surplus, perishable food from nutrient-dense food categories, such as produce, dairy and meat—foods that are difficult for local charitable partners to acquire. Knowing that these specific types of food also have the highest environmental impact, it’s even more important to divert them from landfills.
In addition to our partnership with Second Harvest, we also take part in committee meetings of the Consumer Goods Forum that focus on reducing food waste, sharing best practices and learning from our industry peers.
More than 180 stores in Quebec take part in the programme de récupération en supermarchés (PRS) to reduce food waste. In 2023, we donated over two million kilograms of food to local organizations through this program, a 20% increase from 2022.
Raising Awareness With Our Customers to Rescue Food at Home
In addition to our work with Second Harvest, we also continue to build awareness with our customers through ongoing campaigns about how to reduce food waste.
We partnered with other Canadian companies and organizations to create a customer-facing campaign to promote a range of waste-reduction behaviours and opportunities during Waste Reduction Week and beyond. We also encouraged customers to adopt the fourth “R”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rescue.
Our teams in Quebec and New Brunswick partnered with the Fonds Éco IGA to host a series of educational workshops for customers, providing them with tips and resources that helped approximately 11,000 customers to reduce their food waste.
Looking Ahead
As we look towards our 2025 food-waste reduction target, we will continue to explore operational efficiencies and optimize the use of surplus food through programs such as Fruitful Bargains, where stores sell imperfect produce at a reduced price. We will also continue to engage with partners and customers across our value chain to prevent food waste. We are developing a scalable store waste diversion program that will optimize diversion, reduce food waste and meet our regulatory obligations.
Learn more about food rescue.
Highlights
Canada’s Top Food Rescue Partner With Second Harvest
Sobeys was once again recognized as Second Harvest’s Partner of the Year for our extraordinary dedication to rescuing surplus food. In fiscal 2024, we donated approximately 30 million meals to food charities through our food rescue program. The Sobeys retail service centre in Whitby, Ontario, was also awarded Second Harvest’s Food Defender award in recognition of its exceptional and continued support. In addition to helping families in need access fresh, healthy food, our donations surpassed our annual goal to divert 31 million pounds of food from landfill annually and avoid approximately 41 million kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Expanding FoodHero Access
Our partnership with the FoodHero mobile app enables our store teams to divert surplus food by offering it at discounted prices. The app makes it easier for customers to save up to 60% on proteins, baked goods, produce and more. FoodHero is operating in 340+ stores in Quebec and is available at participating IGA, Rachelle Bery, Les Marchés Tradition and Marché Bonichoix stores. We plan to expand FoodHero into the rest of Canada in the coming year. Leveraging tools and technology like the FoodHero app further reduces surplus food from going to landfill while enabling customers to save money.
Too Good To Go
Since 2022, Longo’s has partnered with Too Good To Go, an online marketplace for surplus food. All Longo’s stores are currently on the app–saving delicious food from waste. Over the past two years, Longo’s has diverted 54,050 pounds of surplus food from landfill and into the hands of customers. This amounts to more than 135,000 kilograms of CO2e emissions avoided.
Champions
Sobeys Whitby retail support centre is proud to hear that we are making a difference. On average we donate up to 19,200 pounds of food every week. Help from Second Harvest allows us to divert food from landfill, reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”
Mike Murray, Inventory Control Administrator, Whitby RSC
Learn More
Our work to reduce food waste connects with our focus on ethical and sustainable sourcing, building stronger communities and reducing plastics.
As a family nurturing families, we want to ensure Canadians are taken care of today, tomorrow and in the future. By doing OurPartR for the environment, we hope to inspire our customers to do theirs. Every step we take together—big or small—can make a difference.
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