The UK’s leading surplus redistributor Company Shop Group and food surplus app Too Good To Go have teamed up to establish a new partnership to prevent even more surplus food from going to waste, whilst helping families most in need.

The partnership will see Company Shop Group sell Too Good To Go’s ‘Magic Bags’, each packed with perfectly good to eat items that are approaching their Best Before date. Users of the Too Good To Go app will then be able to search, select, and collect an available Magic Bag from any of the 14 Company Shop stores across England and Scotland.

Alongside helping to prevent even more food from unnecessarily going to waste, the money raised from the sale of the bags will then be donated to the Group’s award-winning social enterprise, Community Shop, helping to fund its store expansion programme which will enable it to support even more families and communities.

Community Shop supports those living on the cusp of food poverty by providing access to high-quality, low-cost food and essential products, as well as providing members with access to life-changing learning and development programmes. As the Group business model is intrinsically sustainable, the new partnership combines the collective desire to reduce even more food waste, whilst delivering long-term change in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.

The national roll out of this partnership follows the successful pilot across Company Shop stores.

As two leading players in the redistribution space, this latest innovative collaboration will see Company Shop Group further expand its capacity and capabilities to redistribute surplus food as it helps to provide solutions for the industry and for families most in need.

David Lennon, Deputy Managing Director at Company Shop Group said:

“At Company Shop Group, we are always looking for pioneering new ways to reduce waste and working in collaboration with other organisations across the sector is a brilliant way to achieve this.

“Following the success of the pilot programme, we are delighted to be rolling out our partnership with Too Good To Go across all of our stores, which is a first-of-its-kind initiative for the Group.

“Collaborating with Too Good To Go is a perfect fit for us, enabling us to redistribute even more surplus stock and getting it on people’s plates where it was intended. Using the income generated from this partnership to fund the expansion of our Community Shop social enterprise will help deliver significant positive impacts across many more communities, unlocking the true power of surplus stock.

‘Our amazing in-store teams have fully embraced this opportunity to do something new that fits so closely with our values as an organisation, finding ways to eliminate waste wherever possible.”

Paschalis Loucaides, UK Managing Director  of Too Good To Go said:

“I’m thrilled that we’re rolling out our partnership with Company Shop Group. Not only does wasting food not make sense, but it also accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If we are to tackle climate change then fighting food waste is one of the most impactful actions we can take. Collaboration is vital in the fight against food waste and by working together with Company Shop Group we’re going to be able to take a huge bite out of the volume of food wasted every day in the UK.”