Food sellers and retailers know all too well that Thanksgiving is one of the most wasteful times of the year in the industry — and so do excess inventory sellers, who work with businesses to offset holiday food waste and reduce the profit losses associated with the holiday season. Looking at holiday food waste by the numbers puts into stark perspective just how much of the country’s holiday food ends up unsold and uneaten during the last week in November. Thanksgiving is one of the most wasteful times of the year, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation noting that Americans waste during this period:
- 172 million pounds of turkey
- 48 million pounds of sweet potatoes
- 40 million pounds of mashed potatoes
- 30 million pounds of gravy
- 29 million pounds of vegetable sides
- 3.5 million pounds of butter
With one out of every eight Americans going hungry, it’s important to take measures against wasting food wherever possible. This is where food brokers who buy excess inventory can be helpful.
How Food Brokers Can Help
To begin, restaurants and grocery stores have a role to play in reducing Thanksgiving food waste. Food brokers are experts at rerouting excess, overstock, and unsaleable products to businesses and consumers who can benefit greatly by purchasing these food products. Working with food brokers offers a double benefit. On the one hand, food businesses can do their part to eliminate holiday waste and find new buyers for unsold products. They can also earn income on inventory that is either not moving or might be close to its “best use by date.” In these instances, this “found cash” can be beneficial. So, in addition to optimizing your purchasing before and during Thanksgiving, your business can benefit significantly by working with a food broker like Marvell Foods during the upcoming holiday season:
Mitigate food waste – Instead of tossing unsold food inventory, find new buyers who can repurpose the items, even after Thanksgiving is over.
Reducestorage needs – Keeping food products in storage isn’t always a viable option nor promotes better profit margins. By brokering a sale to a secondary or alternative market, for which Marvell Foods has earned an exceptional reputation, you can reduce the number of items you have in storage, reduce or eliminate expensive storage costs, and avoid the hassles and costs of having to dispose of food products.
Maximize profit – It’s not just food that gets wasted on Thanksgiving. Both consumers and food retailers end up losing a lot of money on food waste, which can eat into your profits and keep you from meeting your quarterly goals. A better solution is to sell overstock and excess products and make a profit where you otherwise wouldn’t have. While the upcoming holiday season — Thanksgiving through New Year is a significant inflection point where food waste is most visible. Companies who seek to reduce food waste while at the same time adding unexpected revenue to the bottom line can rely on Marvell Foods to find buyers for food products destined for the landfill, or even better, Marvell Foods can help find outlets for food to fill much needed empty stomachs during the holiday season.