Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Bakeries at Tesco are reviving a traditional way of tackling food waste – by turning surplus baguettes and batons into new bread products.
The supermarket chain is trialling bread pudding and olive oil crostini made from surplus baguettes and batons at 24 Tesco stores across the UK.
If the move is successful and the products are rolled out, it could mean about 40% of the retailer’s in-store bakery baguette and baton waste being cut.
The olive oil crostini is made from surplus in-store bakery white batons, which are sliced, topped with extra virgin olive oil and then baked. The bread pudding is made from surplus in-store bakery white baguettes, which are broken into crumbs before having spices, sultanas and water added.
Tesco bakery category director Gordon Gafa said: “These new lines are made to classic recipes using bread that’s been deemed surplus at the end of the day. We’re very proud of our record on tackling bread waste, and this latest move follows other recent measures such as advising customers that they can freeze bread and also reducing the amount of bread we bake in our stores.”
According to food waste action charity WRAP, surplus bread is one of the biggest waste problems facing food retailers, particularly with freshly baked lines. In 2015 the group estimated that surplus bakery products accounted for nearly a third (67,500 tonnes) of the UK’s total retail food waste.
David Moon, head of business collaboration at WRAP, said: “This initiative by Tesco is an excellent example of a simple solution to a common problem. Using surpluses in-store to make delicious new products saves good food from spoiling, and reduces the cost of waste to the business. Bread is also the second most wasted food in the home and every single day, as a nation, we waste one million loaves.”
The olive oil crostini will be sold at: Maidstone Grove Green; Halifax; Horwich Extra, Bolton; Durham Extra; Hereford 2, Belmont, Herefordshire; Thirsk Superstore, North Yorkshire; Bury St Edmunds; Northampton South; Flitwick Superstore; Fulbourn Superstore, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge; Hexham Extra, Northumberland; and Gillingham Kent Extra.
The bread pudding will be sold at: Bishops Stortford Superstore; Evesham Superstore; Maidstone Grove Green Superstore; Rotherham Extra, Wisbech Extra; Brighouse Superstore; Chester Le Street Superstore; Bury St Edmunds Superstore; Northampton South Extra; Flitwick Superstore; Lincoln 2 Extra; Twickenham Extra.
The olive oil crostini costs 80p and the bread pudding costs £1.25.
