Le Pain Quotidien uses app to save 6,000 meals

Bakery and restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien has saved 6,000 meals from going to waste in the first six months of its partnership with app Too Good To Go.

The partnership began in August 2019 and sees the bakery offer consumers in London, Oxford and Leeds its surplus products in a ‘magic bag’, which is sold at the discounted price of £3.59 with at least £10 worth of food inside. Items include loaves of bread, tartines, patisserie and tarts.

Customers use the app to purchase the food from a nearby store and pick it up at a designated time.  

“We are proud to count Le Pain Quotidien as one of our partner stores, and to save over 6,000 meals in just six months shows just how much a difference we can have in fighting food waste together,” said Hayley Conick, country manager, Too Good To Go UK.

“By partnering with brands such as Le Pain Quotidien, we are all able to do our bit to fight food waste and benefit the planet, while getting a delicious meal in return.”

Following the success of the UK roll-out, Le Pain Quotidien is planning to expand the app across all its European stores in 2020. The Belgian chain currently has 24 stores in London, one in Oxford and one in Leeds.

“Our partnership with Too Good To Go has enabled us to take important simple steps in ensuring the sustainability of our bakeries and restaurants, and we are looking forward to introducing the solution across Europe later this year,” said Le Pain Quotidien UK managing director Adrian Johnson.

Too Good To Go has also proved popular with French bakery chain Paul UK, which extended the food waste app to its entire store estate in September 2019.

To find out more about making the most of your surplus, read our feature: ‘Waste management: opportunities bakers cannot afford to waste’.