Landmark Cinemas and the social impact company, Too Good To Go, has announced a major partnership, offering Canadian movie goers and food enthusiasts alike a way to save money at Landmark Cinemas, while helping to fight food waste.
Several Landmark locations across Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario are live on the Too Good to Go app.
It marks the first cinema partnership for Too Good To Go in Canada and marks a milestone in the company’s growth across the country, embodying the company’s mission to combat food waste everywhere, according to a news release.
Since launching in Canada in 2021 Too Good To Go, and its 16,000 partners have saved more than 10 million meals, across the country. The company has expanded operations to all provinces and continues to welcome businesses of any size to save food and recoup revenue from waste, it said.
Customers saving food via Too Good To Go at participating Landmark locations will have the choice to select from two Surprise Bags, which include surplus food, perfectly good to eat. For $7.99 consumers will receive $24 worth of food that could include nachos, popcorn, cookie bites and hot dogs. The larger bag will sell on the app for $10.99, representing a $33 retail value, and in addition to the movie snacks in the smaller bag will also include pizza and pretzels.
“As a company committed to delivering unforgettable movie experiences, we also recognize our responsibility to reduce our environmental impact. Partnering with Too Good To Go allows us to turn surplus concessions into an opportunity to fight food waste and take another meaningful step toward sustainability. We’re proud to be the first cinema chain in Canada to bring this innovative solution to our guests,” said Landmark’s President, Dave Cohen.
“This partnership with Landmark Cinemas brings our mission to more Canadians in a whole new way,” said Chris MacAulay, Too Good To Go, VP North America. “By saving surplus snacks and treats from going to waste, we’re not only helping the planet-we’re also making sustainability accessible and fun. This partnership shows that even the simple joy of going to the movies can be part of a larger movement toward a more waste-conscious, affordable future.”
Sarah Soteroff, Head of PR for Too Good To Go, North America, said the company is the world’s largest marketplace for selling surplus food.
“We are an app-based service in North America—that’s how everyone would interact with us. In Europe, we have a number of other platforms, but currently, what you see here is the app,” she said.
“So, you would download it in the Google Play or Apple App Store, and we connect businesses who have any type of food that didn’t sell throughout the course of business—and would otherwise have to throw that away—directly to consumers, to purchase at a pretty steep discount.
“For example, I’ll take the Landmark example. We launched with them (recently) across the country, and they would have a ton of popcorn left over at the end of the night—probably some hot dogs, hamburgers, even candy that has a best-before date. That can’t be sold past that date and would otherwise typically get thrown out. All of that can now go into a Too Good To Go Surprise Bag.
“The Surprise Bag mimics the unpredictability of food waste. If I’m a bagel shop owner, I won’t know exactly how many bagels I’ll sell in a day—because if I did, I wouldn’t make extras. There’s always some margin for error and a bit of buffer. This allows those businesses to do something with that food rather than throw it away or heavily discount it in-store.
“This way, they can put it onto the app, sell it, and recoup what would otherwise be lost revenue. The consumer gets great deals, and there’s a bit of fun too because you get to see what’s in your bag only after you purchase it. So you’re kind of going into it a little blind, which people tend to love.”
The company was founded in 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark, but came to Canada in July 2021.
“We are now national—we operate in every province across the country. (Recently), we crossed the 10 million meals saved milestone, which is huge. So, “meal saved” is our metric—it means bags purchased on the app. So we’ve sold 10 million bags of food that would have otherwise gone to waste. That food would’ve ended up in a landfill had it not been sold,” explained Soteroff.
“We work with partners across the country—everything from grocery stores, every Tim Hortons across the country, every Metro across Ontario, every Food Basics. We also work with partners that range from independent stores with one or two locations to large multi-location brands. We’re at around 16,000 partners nationally across Canada and have around 4 million users in Canada.
“Globally, we have over 175,000 partners, around 125 million users, and we’ve saved over 450 million meals from waste—that’s across 19 countries.”
Landmark is its first theatre partner across Canada. There are some theatre partners in Europe, but in North America, this is the first.
“The reason we partnered with Landmark is that when you go to the movies, you want fresh popcorn. You don’t want popcorn that’s been sitting there all day. So because of that, they’re constantly making fresh popcorn—but if it’s not sold, it becomes waste. That food would otherwise go into a landfill,” said Soteroff.
“And the environmental cost of sending that food to landfill contributes hugely to climate change. Our ultimate goal is to reduce the impact of food waste on the environment. At the same time, we help businesses recoup some money and help consumers get great food at lower prices.”
She said the concept is always launching with new businesses and adding new categories all the time. Two new launches are coming with FreshCo across Ontario and with Cora restaurants nationally.
“We’re always looking for more partners, and we encourage people to join the app. There’s always unpredictability with food waste, so the app looks different every day. We encourage everyone to check back often, see what’s in their area, and see how much food is actually being saved every day. It’s a great way to make an impact,” added Soteroff.
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