Alimentation Couche-Tard Expands Efforts to Fight Food Waste
LAVAL, Québec — As part of the company's efforts to combat food waste, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. expanded its partnership with social impact company Too Good To Go in North America and Europe.
Through a series of phased rollouts, the two companies aim to have more than 9,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard stores across the United States, Canada, Ireland and Poland available on the Too Good To Go app by year-end.
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"As we expand and refine our food offering globally, minimizing food waste is a priority for us — and the right thing to do both economically and environmentally," said Ina Strand, chief people officer and leader of sustainability efforts for Couche-Tard. "This partnership with Too Good To Go is a great complement to our continuous improvement efforts in our foodservice operations. Not only does it bolster our global sustainability commitments, but it's also an innovative way for our customers to try our delicious food at a great price."
As part of the program, Circle K and Couche-Tard staff inspect food inventory each day for items nearing expiration and pack them into "Too Good To Go Surprise Bags," adapting to the fluctuating surplus. Customers then have the chance to save good food from going to waste and enjoy it for half of the original price or less by looking up and using the Too Good to Go free mobile app on their phones.
Too Good To Go's partnership with Couche-Tard started in 2018 in Norway, before subsequently expanding to Denmark, Sweden and select markets in the U.S., Canada and Poland.
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Since then, Circle K and Couche-Tard customers have helped to significantly reduce food waste, according to the companies, saving approximately 1.3 million Surprise Bags, or the equivalent of avoiding 3.51 million kilograms of CO2e and the unnecessary use of more than 1 billion liters of water.
Laval-based Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and mobility, operating in 25 countries and territories, with more than 14,400 stores, of which approximately 10,800 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics and Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Approximately 128,000 people are employed throughout its network.