Bento Inc., Canada’s largest sushi chain, and Too Good To Go, the social impact company behind the world’s largest marketplace for selling surplus food, have announced Canada’s first national surplus sushi partnership.
According to the latest Second Harvest report, 41.7% of total food waste in Canada could be rescued, an increase from 2019.
In a news release, Bento and Too Good To Go said they are committed to addressing this issue by making surplus sushi and prepared foods available to consumers at a lower cost.
“This collaboration began in August 2022 with a pilot in three retail locations and has since expanded to include corporate stores, franchisees, and commissary kitchens, in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. The initiative is scaling up across grocery kiosks all over Ontario, and plans for even further expansion. To date, more than 25,000 Bento meals have been saved from going to waste, which is the equivalent to more than 67,000 kg of CO2e avoided,” they said.
“Expanding Too Good To Go across Bento’s stores has been a truly rewarding journey, demonstrating both teams’ dedication to reducing food waste,” said Andrea Li, Country Director of Too Good To Go Canada. “The expansion into grocery store kiosks is a significant milestone, offering more Canadians the chance to save quality food from going to waste. It’s amazing to see this partnership grow and continue making an impact.”
Consumers can expect Bento Surprise Bags to include a variety of fresh sushi packs and prepared foods that are either at their best before date or just one day prior.
“Reducing food waste is important to Bento because it aligns with our commitment to sustainability. Food waste contributes to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, and by reducing it, Bento can lower its environmental footprint,” said Erica Gale, Senior Vice President, Brand Development at Bento.
“Partnering with Too Good To Go gives us an opportunity to introduce our products to new consumers, at favourable prices. Additionally, we’ve seen a positive boost in employee engagement as our teams take pride in making sure perfectly good food reaches consumers rather than being wasted.”
The Too Good To Go app is available for free download in the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.
Since its inception in 1996 in Toronto, Bento Inc. has emerged as one of North America’s premier sushi providers. Products are available in grocery stores, universities, colleges, hospital food courts, airports, quick-service restaurants, shopping malls and food courts. Its nine commissaries across North America produce products which serve over 2,500 stores. Cumulatively, it delivers over 35 million sushi servings annually.
Too Good To Go is a certified B Corp social impact company that connects users with partners to rescue unsold food and stop it from going to waste. With 100 million registered users and 170,000 active partners across 19 countries, Too Good To Go operates the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food. Since its launch in 2016, Too Good To Go has helped to save over 350 million meals from going to waste, the equivalent to 945,000 tonnes of CO2e avoided.
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