Grocery store food waste is a significant problem on many levels for many reasons. Grocery Store food waste contributes to excess food products that not only end up in landfills but also account for significant lost profit for retailers yearly. Reports estimate that as much as half of the food produced yearly goes to waste. This includes astounding statistics, such as 45% of fruits and vegetables, 35% of fish and seafood products, 30% of cereal products, and 20% of meat and dairy products.
While you might be surprised to learn how much food is thrown away each year, what may be more surprising is how much of this waste could be saved by working with a grocery store broker. Here’s what to know about grocery store food waste, including how food brokers can help dramatically address this issue by getting potentially wasted food into the hands of consumers, many of whom, in today’s economic environment, are suffering from food insecurity.
Supermarket Food Waste Statistics
Walk into most grocery stores in the U.S., and you’re likely to see aisles of food packed and stacked with products. This is good for consumers, but unfortunately, stocking so much perishable inventory – whether fresh or even shelf stable is a recipe for excess waste. “Best Use By” dates and “short-coded” food products are inevitable in the food business. Marvell Foods has earned a nationwide industry reputation as a leader in helping Grocery Stores, Supermarkets, Convenience Stores, and others find secondary markets for many of these products that can help retailers realize unforeseen financial gains.
Food retailers such as grocery stores, restaurants, and general food service companies are responsible for 40% of the country’s food waste, second only to consumer waste. Additionally, consider this food waste statistic: about 30% of the food on those well-stocked grocery shelves gets thrown away each year, with the profit lost from that waste totaling twice the amount gained from total food sales.
FOOD BROKERS: THE GROCERY STORE FOOD WASTE SOLUTION
How Food Brokers Can Help Solve Industry-Wide Grocery Store Food Waste Problems
A good food broker wears many hats and performs (potentially) a variety of services, working with manufacturers one day helping to get their products on retail store grocery shelves, or at the other end of the spectrum, helping retailers with expired foods find alternative markets to avoid ongoing storage costs, disposal fees, trucking fees and turn all these headaches and costs and financial outlays into increased revenue. Food brokers can also tap into their networks to source non-traditional buyers for products that would otherwise go to waste. For grocery retailers, this means new opportunities for offloading hard-to-sell inventory, thus reducing food waste and maximizing profits.
Here’s a look at some specific benefits food brokers can provide grocery stores.
Larger Pools of Buyers
A grocery store’s primary customers are the people who walk through its doors. But what happens to all the inventory that they don’t buy? Food brokers maintain extensive networks of buyers that extend beyond everyday local consumers, allowing retailers to cast a wider net and increase the sales potential of their products.
Specialty Capabilities
Food brokers can sell all types of products for grocery stores, including products that have a strong likelihood of going to waste — such as expired products, closeout products, salvage products, and products with packaging changes. Grocery stores can work with brokers who focus on specific food categories, such as frozen food, shelf-stable, canned goods, drinks – energy, sodas, waters, etc., and a host of packaged items with “best-use-by” dates.
Food Brokerage Services and More from Marvell Foods, A National Leader in Food Brokerage, Food Trading, Food Buying, Surplus, & Salvage
Though grocery store waste remains an ongoing issue, food brokerage remains a crucial solution, promising a larger pool of buyers, product salvage capabilities, and more.
If you would like to minimize food waste at your retail store or find an outlet that would purchase your soon-to-expire/short-coded food products – whatever food category they may be, Marvell Foods can be of great and immediate assistance. With over three decades in the food industry and as a third-generation family-owned business, Marvell Foods has cultivated an exceptional national network of buyers and sellers across the country. From the nation’s largest big box stores, discount stores, convenience stores, and government institutions – such as state and federal prisons, food banks, commissaries, and even cruise lines, Marvell Foods has an unparalleled network of buyers (and sellers) from coast to coast. Moreover, Marvell Foods is committed to helping minimize food waste from grocery stores during these challenging economic times to play a positive role in helping to address the nation’s food insecurity issues. Contact us today to learn more.